Is the Person You Are the Person You've Become?
by Celestia912
Summary: Aizen finds out that Gin is a traitor, and tries to kill him. Gin survives and goes to Ichigo for help. M rated material in future chapters. Don't like, don't read.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Okay, so this is my first actual chapter story that I've put up here. It's a GinIchi fic, if you don't like it for whatever reason, then please don't read it. The idea for this story kept bothering me until I finally sat down and wrote it. ^^ It takes a little while for the "conflict" to become more apparent, but until then, enjoy!

The basic plot is that Aizen figures out that Gin is a traitor and tries to kill him. Gin gets away and goes to Ichigo for help. You'll just have to read the rest to see what happens. Please review and tell me what you think. Be honest, but not mean. Thank you for taking the time to read it!

WARNING: There WILL be YAOI content in later chapters, if people like it and review!

_Disclaimer:_ I do NOT own Bleach! All of the characters, and the setting and all that belongs to Tite Kubo.

* * *

_Chapter 1_

Ichimaru Gin stumbled through the deserts of Hueco Mundo. He was breathing hard, his usual smile was absent, and behind him was a trail of blood. He looked down at the hole in his torso, the most worrying and smallest wound, the one that punctured his lung. He knew he lost a lot of blood, and he was bleeding into said lung. _'I can't stay here. I'm fair game now,'_ he thought. After a moment of deliberation the sliver haired man opened a Garganta. Gin stumbled through to the sky above Karakura town. _'Damn…'_

After hovering in the air there for a second, Gin fell. He managed to slow himself down enough so that when he hit pavement nothing else got broken. However that doesn't mean it didn't hurt like a bitch. The genius stayed still a moment before he pushed himself to his feet, already having located the reiatsu of the person he was looking for. He thanked his stars that the owner was less than a block away, and stumbled down the street. About a minute later (he was moving uncharacteristically slow because of his wounds) he turned a corner and saw the orange haired teen. He leaned heavily on the building next to him and called out, without letting himself wonder if the teen would kill him right away or not, "Ichigo!" The teen spun around at the sound of his name, eyes widening at the sight of Gin.

"Gin?" he asked uncertainly. The man before him looked awful. The traitorous ex-captain had a deep gash across his shoulder and stomach, at least two stab wounds, and his left arm was hanging uselessly at his side. He was sweating and panting, his eyes were fully open and his smile was absent. As the silver haired man took a step forward, Ichigo's need to help him was gone, replaced by his wariness and anger because of who Gin had allied himself with. Then the man was falling, and Ichigo instinctively stepped forward and caught him.

Gin grabbed his shirt front and managed to force out, "He found out. I couldn't get…" around the blood rising in his throat before he passed out. Ichigo stared down at the ex-captain in shock, wondering just what the hell to do. For a moment he couldn't help but notice that even wounded as he was, Gin was handsome. His eyes, which he now knew to be a striking icy blue color, were piercing, and his mouth, when so relaxed looked normal and soft. His hair shone brightly in the light, and his pale skin looked almost see through. The thought shattered when blood trickled out of the man's mouth.

Ichigo quickly made his decision and gently sat Gin down, stood and reached into his pocket, pulling out Kon and swallowing the pill. The second he was free of his body, the mod started talking. Ichigo ignored him and bent back down and lifted Gin in his arms, worry flashing through him at how light he was. _'Shit, how much blood did you lose Gin?'_ he wondered.

"Who is that Ichigo? What happened?" Kon exclaimed when he saw the limp form.

Ichigo turned to look at Kon and said seriously, "Kon, I need you to listen carefully, and do as I say. I'm taking him to my house, and I need you to get Inoue and meet me there. If Rukia or Renji are with her then you have to keep them away. Okay?" He didn't wait for an answer. Gin needed help _NOW_ or he would die ex-captain or no.

He turned and jumped into the air, starting to flash step back to his house. He could feel blood soaking into his sleeves and shirt front. _'What the hell happened to you Gin?'_ he thought yet again. When he got to his house he hardly paused to open his window before he jumped into his room. Ichigo laid the man out on his bed and then went to get a first aid kit. When he returned Gin was awake and awkwardly trying to sit up. "Gin, lie back down," Ichigo ordered. He watched as the man who was known for being overly confident and unshakable, started and nervously fumbled for his Zanpakuto, his eyes turning to fix on Ichigo. As Ichigo reached cautiously for the hilt of Zangetsu, recognition flashed through the bright blue eyes and he relaxed.

"Ichigo..." he said in a relieved voice before he slumped back down and was unconscious again. After a moment of hesitation Ichigo stepped forward and set the kit next to a glass of water on his nightstand. He ripped the robe Gin wore open and started pulling his arms out of it. He froze when he heard a disturbingly painful _crack_ and Gin winced. He slowly pulled the man's left arm out of the robe before moving on. He would look at the arm when he got the top off. He untied the light blue green sash around the slim waist, sitting Shinso on the floor next to his bed. He paused to look at the sash, memories of his first trip to the Soul Society flashing through his head. He distinctly remembered that the color inside of the haori Gin wore was the same exact color as this.

_'Why would he want a reminder of the place he betrayed?'_ he wondered. He brushed the thought aside and pulled the bloody and ruined top open, gasping at the sight that greeted him. He grabbed a washcloth and got it wet with the water from his table then carefully started cleaning away the blood. _'There's so much blood, I can't even tell how many wounds he actually has.'_ He sighed when he finished, happy that his first assumption of how many wounds had been inflicted was correct. Ichigo got to work stopping the bleeding as best as he could.

He paused when he heard a noise outside, and looked over in time to see Kon, carrying Orihime, jump though the open window. "Kurosaki-kun! Are you okay?" Orihime asked as Kon reluctantly put her down, ogling her breasts the whole time.

"I'm okay Inoue. But he isn't," Ichigo replied, looking back down at Gin.

He waited silently as Orihime processed what she was seeing. "Isn't that… Ichimaru Gin?" she gasped out quietly.

Ichigo nodded gravely. "Will you heal him? I want to know what the hell is going on."

Ichigo stepped away from Gin and Orihime took his place. "Soten Kisshun, I reject," she said softly, and two of her little fairy like beings created the healing barrier around the man in Ichigo's bed.

"Hey… Ichigo, isn't Ichimaru Gin the name of one of the guys that betrayed the Soul Society?" Kon asked.

"Yea," Ichigo responded darkly, watching the man's chest rise and fall.

* * *

_2 hours earlier:_

_Gin walked through the halls of Las Noches, heading for his Control Room. After checking his cameras, maybe playing with the corridors a bit, then he was planning on going to see Aizen. His hate for the man rose within him at the simple thought of his name. Aizen had ruined an innumerable amount of lives, just by existing. Gin had debated for a long time, and he had decided that the most family appropriate word to describe the man with was egotistic._

_Said egotistic bast- man had stolen from his longtime friend Rangiku. He had ruined Hinamori Momo's life and, in doing so, changed Hitsugaya Toshiro's life forever. He had killed the members of Central 46 so that he could order the death of Kuchiki Rukia and obtain Urahara Kisuke's hogyoku. He had destroyed the lifestyle Hirako Shinji, Otoribashi Rojuro, Aikawa Love, Muguruma Kensei, Yadamaru Lisa, Sarugaki Hiyori, Kuna Mashiro, and Ushoda Hachigen; now known as the Visoreds. Aizen Souske had also taken Gin's life from him. He found it funny that the man that hated Aizen more than anyone was closer to him than anyone._

_Gin pulled out of his thoughts as he approached the door to his Control Room. He quietly opened the door and stepped inside. As he walked towards the lone chair in the room, a deep smooth voice stopped him in his tracks. "Gin," it said, and Gin turned to face Aizen._

"_Aizen Taicho, wha' brings ya here?" he asked, the grin on his face not even faltering. And then he went flying into the wall._

"_You think I don't know that you're not loyal to me anymore?" Aizen said in a disturbingly calm voice. Gin pushed away from the wall, brushing off his coat with the grin still plastered on his face while his voice spoke of his confusion._

"_I'm sure I've no idea wha' ya are talkin' 'bout, Aizen Taicho," he said._

"_Don't toy with me, Gin. There's no use denying it," the brown haired man said, drawing his sword. "And now you will be erased because of your betrayal."_

'Damn!' _Gin thought, reaching into his robes for his Zanpakuto. "Shoot to kill, Shinso," Gin almost hissed as his blade extended through his robe, heading straight for Aizen. He watched as the man sidestepped and smiled, almost kindly._

"_Shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu," he said. Gin hardly had time to open his eyes fully before his shoulder was cut through to the bone. He clenched his jaw against the pain and closed his eyes. _'The only chance I have now is findin' Kyoka Suigetsu's presence.' _There was a noise to his right and a sharp pain in his neck the disappeared after a moment, as long as Gin stayed still. He felt the faint flicker and spun, deflecting Aizen's blow aimed at his saketsu chain. He had his eyes shut tight, he was breathing through his mouth, he was focusing on the sound of his own racing heart, and only letting himself feel Shinso in his hand._

"_That was impressive Gin," Aizen said, his voice echoing around him, making it sound like the room they were in was cavernous. "But it's not good enough."_

_A sword slashed across his stomach and Gin gasped, jumping back and away from the man. Immediately after that there was a sharp pain in his lungs. Gin swung his sword, almost frantically, panic rising in him when he felt a hand take hold of his arm. After a second the panic subsided and he grew disturbingly calm. It was the calm acceptance of death. He knew Aizen was going to kill him, in the most horrible manner that he could come up with. And Gin wouldn't be able to avenge any of those that had lost their lives to Aizen._

_As he was about to completely give up, one simple image flashed behind his closed lids. It was Rangiku, as he last saw her, but she was crying. No, not crying, sobbing. _'Rangiku don't cry…' _he wanted to tell her._

_After a moment the image faded, but his resolve to live returned. He opened his eyes and turned his head to face Aizen, his grin returning, looking almost mocking. He narrowed his eyes to slits, and he was Ichimaru Gin, 3__rd__ Division Taicho again. "I was never loyal ta _you_Aizen." His grin widened, and he opened his eyes as he said, fighting back his accent, "The betrayal you can see is trivial. What is truly fearsome is the betrayal you don't see, Aizen Taicho."_

_He got the immense satisfaction of seeing Aizen's eyes narrow in anger. Less than a minute later Gin's left arm was broken in two places; his wrist was broken, along with three fingers. His shoulder was dislocated, and there was a stab wound through said shoulder. Aizen lifted Gin up by his neck and smiled cruelly. "I think I'll leave you as food for the pitiful hollows outside," he said, fishing for some sort of reaction, preferably terror followed by begging for his life, but even a simple "you bastard" would be perfectly acceptable for Aizen at this point. It would mean that the fox faced man in front of him was afraid of him, and that he did have actually emotions._

_But Gin's grin was still in place, and his eyes remained mere slits, hiding the brilliant blue color. He knew he was frustrating Aizen, probably more than anyone that existed ever had. He took pride in that. And he knew Aizen would probably think of him as some sort of fucked up, masochistic, schizophrenic creature that had fooled the leader of the Arrancar army for over 110 years. Most anyone would think that of Gin after witnessing the simple fact that while Aizen Sosuke had broken his arm, his expression hadn't faltered once, he hadn't raised his voice in a scream of pain, or even a whimper. But oh how he had wanted to. He had wanted to scream as loud as he could and curse and let the immense pain of his bone snapping and digging into the flesh of his arm show on his face. But he absolutely refused to give that egotistic bastard the satisfaction of seeing him in pain. So he hung limply from the brown haired man's hand, grinning lazily, knowing that Aizen would hate and loathe him after this. _

_Aizen's eyes narrowed further in anger and he turned, flash stepping out of Las Noches. He threw Gin away from him as if he was a bag of garbage. Without any more breath wasted on the traitorous fox, Aizen turned and went back into his fortress. The silver haired Shinigami let himself remain in the soft, cool sand of Hueco Mundo. He took his sweet time rising to his feet, wincing every single time he heard the bones in his arm move. Gin looked down at Shinso, resting comfortably in his sheath, and Gin was glad that Aizen had been foolish enough to let him keep his precious Zanpakuto. The cry of a hollow off in the distance pulled the man out of his thoughts and forced him to make his tired limbs carry him away from Las Noches._

* * *

AN: Please review! (Don't mind the random re-update guys. I kinda somehow managed to forget my little disclaimer, so I had to come back and put that in here. ^^ll)


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Yay for update! And thank you all SO much for reviewing, and adding this story to your favorites and alerts! I'm so very glad that all of you like it!

This chapter is kind of a little filler, no real fighting or anything. But it was a needed chapter, so here you go! Enjoy, review, and keep me motivated!

_Disclaimer:_ I do NOT own Bleach! All of the characters, and the setting and all that belongs to Tite Kubo.

* * *

_Chapter 2_

Gin opened his eyes, finally managing to pull his consciousness away from the memory. He frowned suddenly and sat up, looking down at his chest. All his wounds were healed, faint pink lines the only sign that they had ever existed. He lifted his left hand to stare incredulously at it. After wiggling his fingers around and rolling his shoulder he let his arm drop to the side. He didn't have the energy to properly marvel at the fact that his wounds were healed, or even move around, because he was not only dead tired, but he was also starving. His throat was dry and his vision was a bit blurry. He slowly lowed himself back onto the bed, staring up at the dark ceiling.

'_Kurosaki Ichigo's room, Karakura town, night time,'_ his brain told him. He sarcastically thanked his brain as a shiver rolled through his body. _'Ya're cold 'cause ya're not wearin' a top,'_ his brain informed him once more.

'_Captain Obvious strikes again,'_ he thought, rolling his eyes. The door to the bedroom opened and a second later a light was turned on, temporarily blinding the ex-captain.

"So you're awake," Ichigo's voice said, accompanied by the sound of footsteps approaching.

"Yea, unless o' course I'm dead," Gin responded, squinting against the bright light. The smell of food hit his nose and he turned his head in Ichigo's direction, opening his eyes again. "Do ya have food?" he asked as his stomach rumbled loudly.

Ichigo had to hold back a chuckle at how obnoxiously loud Gin's stomach was. "Yea, I have food. But I want to ask you some questions first," he said.

Gin sighed and nodded, having expected something like this. "Ask away," he said, fixing his blue eyes on Ichigo, deciding to have them open for the time being.

"Who attacked you?" Ichigo asked, his eyes never leaving the silver haired man's face.

So he saw the flash of anger and regret in those piercing eyes as he answered, "Aizen did."

Ichigo frowned at that. _'Aizen did? What?'_ he thought. "Why the hell would Aizen attack a comrade?"

Gin laughed harshly at the question, which started a mini coughing fit. When he could talk he said, "Any number o' reasons. They weren't strong enough, they displeased him, or he had no more use for 'em. In my case, he found out that I wasn't loyal ta him."

The frown on Ichigo's face turned into an angry scowl. "You expect me to believe that crap? You're telling me that you gave up your life to follow that man, only to decide he was full of shit a few years later?"

"No. I'm tellin' ya I gave up my life an' followed Aizen so I could find out as much as possible 'bout him before killin' him," Gin corrected coldly, looking away from the teen at the ceiling. This was quite the sore subject for him. Some part of him realized it had been stupid to give up his life, and who he REALLY was just to get a shot at killing one person. And he was ashamed of what he had to do to gain that one person's trust. But he also knew that if he hadn't been an ally of Aizen, then the orange haired teen sitting next to him, along with all of his friends, would be dead, and so would Rangiku and Toshiro and Momo. He did the right thing. He would've hated himself even more if he had allowed Ichigo to be killed, although he wasn't exactly planning on admitting that to anyone any time soon. All the emotions were building up inside him, all the hate, self-loathing, regret, and general pain, were trying to rise to his eyes as he said in a thick, but insistent voice, "I was never loyal ta him."

Ichigo blinked in shock at how incredibly lonely the man's voice sounded, and how sad his eyes looked. It was the first time he had heard such strong emotion in the ex-captains voice, or any emotion other than some twisted sort of joy or amusement. And Ichigo realized something then; that this Ichimaru Gin, the one lying in his bed and staring up at the ceiling, was one that was never allowed to show himself. For god knows how many years Gin had to hide all of his emotions, and all of his true thoughts and feelings, from everyone he knew. If he hadn't done that, then that bastard Aizen would've found him out a long time ago. This was the Gin that no one was allowed to see. And Ichigo wished he could take the Gin that was the snake, the one that killed people and smiled and was so very nonchalant about everything, and lock him away, leaving only the man that was so lonely and sad, and then find a way to make said man happy once more. Surely there was a moment in his life when he was happy and had no worries.

Still, there was one question that was bothering Ichigo. "Why did you throw away your life?" he asked in a softer voice.

"… I swore I'd change things, an' get back wha' Aizen took from Rangiku," he said reluctantly, knowing that he would have to be honest to gain the teens trust.

"You never told anyone, did you?"

"No."

After a pause Ichigo asked, "Why did you come to me?"

"If I had gone ta anyone else, I woulda been killed on the spot. The whole o' the Soul Society knows my face an' wants me dead. All the Arrancar hate me, so they would tattle ta Aizen if they saw me alive. The Visoreds hate me 'cuz I helped Aizen. So that left ya as my only option," he explained. And it wasn't an outright lie. That was the logical side of his brain that had explained it, but there was a less logical side of his brain that had a different reason for going to Ichigo first. Gin's thoughts were interrupted by another loud growl from his stomach.

"Sit up so you can eat," Ichigo said, grabbing the plate of food. He watched as Gin sat up and pushed himself back to lean against the wall. The teen handed the food over and watched silently as the tired man ate. His eyes traveled down the man's chest, examining the muscles without really realizing it. The muscles in his arms and shoulders were more defined than the rest of his torso. His skin was pale, but not as pale as Toshiro's was. His silver hair was messy and dull, due to the dust and sand clinging to it. Despite that, Gin was still good looking.

Ichigo didn't even really realize that he had spaced out until Gin sighed and sat the empty plate on the desk. Ichigo stood, grabbing the plate. "I'll let you rest," he said, turning to leave.

Gin frowned for a moment. _'Where does he plan on sleepin' if I have his bed?'_ he wondered. He didn't really want to steal the bed from the teen. And he planned on saying as much, after some fun of course. "Where ya goin' Ichigo?" he asked, grinning.

Ichigo didn't turn, but he did pause. "Downstairs, why?"

"Ya ain't plannin' on leavin' me up here all alone, are ya?" Gin asked, closing his eyes to slits.

Ichigo turned at that, frowning suspiciously. "What are you saying Gin?"

"Well I'd feel so bad takin' yer bed. There's plenty o' room fer the both of us," he responded, grin widening, the only indicator that he was kidding. He watched, amused as the teens eyes widened and his face grew red. Gin remained silent, waiting for him to speak.

'_What the hell is he saying? Is he trying to seduce me? Why? And do I… NO! What am I thinking?'_ Ichigo ranted silently, not even thinking about responding to the man. Sadly his mouth stuttered out one simple word. "W-What…?"

The sound of Gin's laughter, Gin's genuine laughter, pulled Ichigo back to reality. "I lie. I'll sleep on the floor. That way ya can have yer bed," the silver haired ex-captain said, standing up carefully.

Ichigo stepped forward instantly, worried that he might fall. "No, you're wounded. You have to take the bed," he said, setting the plate down.

Gin shrugged. "All a matter o' opinion, my dear Ichigo. Ya will be sleepin' in yer own bed, an' unless ya really wanna share it wit' me, I'm takin' the floor," he said, raising a silver eyebrow.

"Don't argue with me about this Gin. Take the damn bed."

"I'm not arguin'. I never argue. I make statements. Ya don't wanna share a bed wit' me. I ain't lettin' the person that saved my life sleep on a couch or floor. So, I'm takin' the floor."

Ichigo let out a hefty sigh. He could tell this man was going to annoy the poor 17 year old to death. It didn't help that when he finished high school (less than a month away), he was going to move out, and from the way things were looking, he would have a new roommate. "Fine," he growled, realizing that continuing to argue with Gin was pointless, and that he needed to get to sleep because he had a test tomorrow. An idea blossomed in his brain, and Ichigo grinned. "You can sleep in the closet."

"The closet?" Gin asked, looking at the closet door across the tiny room.

"It's where Rukia used to sleep before she moved in with Inoue. That's your new bed for the next month."

Gin walked over and pulled the door open. "Will ya be angry if I accidentally break this shelf?" he asked, jumping up onto said shelf which had served as Rukia's bed. _'It's so tiny…'_ he thought. But he shrugged and closed the closet door, lying down and working on getting as comfortable as he could before letting his eyes fully close. Seconds' later sleep dragged his mind off to a world where everything was perfect, and he was truly happy once more.

* * *

AN: Okay, there was that. I hope you all liked it, and are not disappointed! There will be more GinIchi adorableness in the next chapter if you REALLY want to keep reading it! Please review and tell me what you think! (And again, don't mind the little update. Nothing new other than this little note and the disclaimer. ^^ll)


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Update day! I will once again that everyone for reviewing! You all make me happy when I get nice feedback on the story, and I welcome suggestions and critiques and stuff. ^^

Another little filler, but I kinda had to put this in here. Have to build the relationship, and of course leave you wondering what is happening with Aizen in Hueco Mundo with the Espada. Do not fear, we will have a visit from one of the Espada _very_ soon. And I'm so excited that I might just have to put the next chapter up ahead of schedule! :D

On another note, next week I will be going on vacation to visit my dad. So it might take a little bit longer for me to update. But I promise that I will try and keep my updating consistant. Keep giving me suggestions, and inspiring me to keep writing. Anything you guys can tell me will help!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach! Gin would somehow magically return from the dead and be all awesome again if I did. ^^ll

* * *

_Chapter 3_

Ichigo opened his eyes slightly, awoken by the sound of his alarm clock going off. He reached over to grab the clock, frowning when he didn't find it on the table next to the bed. Without any warning it stopped, so Ichigo pulled his arm back under the covers, refusing to wake up just yet. As he was just drifting off the alarm started up again. Then it went quiet again. A few seconds later the clocks insistent ringing sounded once more. He sat up, turning a well prepared scowl at the closet, which was open just a crack. From said crack, he could see a light blue eye peering out, shining with mischief.

Gin watched as the teen, clad only in sweat pants, got out of the bed and strode over to the closet, pulling the door open rather violently. "My, my, wha' a temper ya have there Ichigo. Ya should control it better. Ya're scarin' me," Gin said, smiling up at the orange haired youth.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ichigo snapped, ignoring Gin's comment.

"Wakin' ya up," the silver haired man responded, looking down at the ringing alarm in his hand. "I'd say rather effectively too."

"Why?"

"Cuz, I thought it'd be fun," he replied, tossing the clock from one hand to the other.

Ichigo made a dive to grab the clock, his annoyance level rising when Gin moved his arm, holding the alarm just out of his reach. "Give me the damn clock Gin!"

"Ask nicely, Ichigo," Gin said calmly, slitted eyes opening slightly.

That earned Gin a full on glare, which didn't seem to affect him at all. "Give me the clock Gin."

Gin held the clock out to the teen. "I'm gonna hafta teach ya some manners." Ichigo snatched the clock out of his hand and closed the closet door, turning back to his bed. There was no way he would be going back to sleep now. He turned the damn alarm off, and then gathered his clothes to go and take a shower.

From outside, his insane dad's voice screamed, "GOOD MORNING ICHIGOOOO!" he stepped to the side as Kurosaki Isshin came flying through his window. The black haired man crashed into his closet door, and Ichigo hoped that it scared the crap out of the silver haired man inside. "You dodged my 'good morning' kick! Well done my son!" the man said, picking himself up off the floor and walking toward the teen, arms open wide for a hug.

Ichigo ducked under his father's arm and headed for the bathroom. "Get out of my room, old man," he said.

Gin waited patiently in the closet until he heard Ichigo come in, saying, "I'm going to school. I'll see you later." The teen didn't wait for a reply, and Gin didn't give him one. When the door to the bedroom closed with a click, the sliver haired man opened the door and slid out of the closet. He groaned and stretched, trying to rid himself of the stiffness in his muscles. He could hear his bones cracking and popping as he stretched, and flinched inwardly, remembering the sound of Aizen breaking his arm and dislocating his shoulder, and how it was just a little bit louder than this was.

After a moment he relaxed and looked around the room for something fun to do. His eyes fell on the desk and he wandered over to it. He spotted his ruined top and robe in the trash can, and his sash folded neatly on the corner of the desk. With an idea forming in his mind, he pulled the clothes out and tossed them into the closet. He then proceeded to rummage through the desk until he found loose leaf paper and a pen. He sat down at the desk and started to draw.

When the bell rang, signifying the end of the school day, Ichigo grabbed his bag and stood, intent on getting home to make sure Gin hadn't done something awful to his room because he had wanted to 'mess with him'. He made his way towards the door, glancing to the side when Rukia and Orihime fell into step with him.

"We were going to go to Urahara Shoten today, and we wanted to know if you wanted to come, Kurosaki-kun," Orihime said in her happy sounding voice, acting like she didn't know that Gin was at his house.

"Nah, I'm heading home. Maybe some other time," Ichigo responded, hoping that Orihime didn't say anything to Rukia.

"Why? Lately, you've been avoiding going home after school. What's changed?" Rukia asked.

Ichigo glanced at Orihime and she met his eyes knowingly. "Nothing. Just an unfortunate house guest that I don't like leaving alone in my room."

Rukia looked at him silently before a slow smile spread across her face. "You like the guy," she stated.

Ichigo could feel the blood rushing up his neck to his face, and he did his best to ignore it, saying in an irritated voice, "Yea right. He's an annoying fox faced jerk that only cares about entertaining himself. Why would I fall for someone like _that_?"

Rukia laughed. "Okay Ichigo. Whatever you say."

Renji turned the corner and, upon seeing them, walked over, asking Ichigo his favorite question. "So have you found a boyfriend yet?"

"So have you grown the balls to tell Byakuya how you feel yet?" Ichigo retorted instantly. Renji smirked and fell into step with them. His friends started their usual banter, but Ichigo wasn't listening. He was busy worrying about what the hell was in store for him when he got home.

Gin didn't turn away from the window when Ichigo's bedroom door opened. In all honesty, he didn't even really register the sound. He was brooding, which was normal for him, what wasn't normal was that it showed on his face. He was, once again asking himself, _'Is the person ya are, the person you've become?'_ as if he was waiting for the day when the answer would change, when it wouldn't make him sad and lonely. The answer still hadn't changed; _'No.'_ Sometimes Gin wondered if he had real human emotions other than anger and hate left. He had worn the mask of a snake for well over 110 years. He had killed so many people; at this point he thought he was almost as bad as Aizen himself. So, after all that, the real question became, could he even remove that awful mask and just be Ichimaru Gin from Rukongai again? He didn't know. All he knew was that he hated himself for what he had done, and he hadn't meant to survive after Aizen found out about him, whether Gin had revealed himself or not. If he had managed to kill Aizen, he had expected to be executed, by the Soul Society or the Arrancar loyal to Aizen, it didn't matter. All that did matter to him was that Rangiku knew that he had never been loyal to Aizen, that he had tried, and that he wouldn't have to see her cry. _'Ya're so stupid Gin…'_ he thought. He could feel a single tear rolling down his cheek, and he ignored that as well.

"Gin?" Ichigo's voice asked worriedly.

Gin hastily wiped the tear away, closed his eyes until there was only a slit that he could see through, and turned with a smirk. "Welcome home, Ichigo," he said, the mask falling so easily back into place. _'I oughta get a damn Oscar fer best actor,'_ he thought jokingly, trying to rid himself of the burdensome self-pity.

"What were you doing?" Ichigo asked.

"People watchin'. It's one o' my favorite pastimes," Gin replied easily, only telling a half lie.

"Uh-uh…" Ichigo said. He was positive he had seen a tear on the man's face. He turned to look at his desk, and the stack of paper and the pen there. He frowned, distracted from the sight of the lone tear and reached for the papers to get a better look at what was drawn on them. Gin jumped off the bed and grabbed the stack before the teen could. "What was that?" Ichigo asked.

"They're sketches," the silver haired man responded.

"You draw?"

"I design."

"Design what?"

"Would ya really like ta know?"

"Yes."

Gin stepped forward until his face was inches from the teens. Ichigo could smell the man's breath, and he could see every detail of his face. He registered the smell of shampoo, telling him Gin had showered at some point. His heart was pounding as the sliver haired man leaned closer, and touched the side of his face with his long, warm fingers. "Well…" he whispered, opening his eyes. "You'll find out in time," he said, his voice at its normal volume. He stepped back away from the teen and over to the closet, setting the papers inside.

Ichigo stood very still for a long moment, blushing furiously, his breathing faster than normal. Then he got a hold of himself and scowled. "Whatever." He sat down at his desk and pulled out his math homework, starting to try and understand the first of many frustrating problems. Gin looked over his shoulder and Ichigo felt his annoyance rise a little.

"Can I try that?" the silver haired man asked.

Ichigo scowled. "Use a different piece of paper," he said. He could hear him grabbing a paper from the stack he had stolen out of the desk. And then, all of a sudden, Ichigo had been pulled away from the desk and Gin was sitting in his lap. "H-Hey!" he exclaimed, his face growing redder. "What the hell are you doing Gin?"

"Tryin' this stuff," the man responded, leaning forward to look at the paper.

"I know that! Why are you sitting on me?" he snapped.

"'Cuz ya're sittin' in the chair," Gin stated, starting to write something.

"So sit on the bed!"

"Sorry, but ya're much too comfy Ichigo," he said with an obvious smile in his voice.

"Okay, that's it! Get off!" Ichigo said, shoving Gin off him and onto the floor.

The silver haired man turned, holding the sheet of paper out to him. "Did I do it right?" he asked, his blue eyes fully open and looking at the carrot top curiously.

Ichigo took the paper, scowling, and looked down at it, his eyes widening. On the paper, in perfect hand writing was the first problem on the worksheet, with all the work and the answer. He had done that problem in less than one minute! Ichigo was in calculus! How the hell did Gin do a calculus problem in less than a minute without any prior knowledge of how to do it? "How did you do that?"

Gin blinked in confusion at Ichigo. "It was simple. Are ya sayin' it's supposed to be hard?"

"Yes! It is hard! I'm taking the class and I can hardly understand it! Are you a genius or something?"

"Well, I was considered a child prodigy," Gin said, standing up. "If that counts then yes, I'm a genius." Ichigo watched as the man moved over to the bed and sat back down at the window, leaning his head against the wall and looking out at the town. The sun was shining through the window at the exact right angle, making Gin's silver hair shine brilliantly, and the skin on his face and bare chest glow slightly. Ichigo studied the open blue eyes, and found that they looked haunted and sad. The man's eyes always seemed to show his real emotions and not the ones that he showed through the mask of a snake that he wore. _'Maybe that's why he always has his eyes closed like that…'_ he thought. After a long moment, he realized he was staring and forced his eyes back to the worksheet in front of his eyes. He tried to focus on the work, but his mind wouldn't let him. Instead he was wondering why Gin was so sad all of a sudden, and then getting mad at himself for worrying about it. Gin's problems weren't affecting him, and so he shouldn't even think about them… so why did he? What was it that made him want to make the man feel better?

* * *

AN: Alright, end scene. ^^ There you guys go. And next chapter, we will have an unexpected visit from a Hueco Mundo inhabitant... If you guys review and favorite and what not. :D


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Woot! I updated early because I probably won't be able to update on Tuseday, seeing as I'll be on vacation. ^^ And I will once again thank all of the people that are still following this story, and that are telling me they like it. ^^

So, this chapter is where things finally get moving a bit. This chapter took a while to write, and it is my longest chapter to date. We get our visit from someone that lives in Hueco Mundo, and we get to see how they are dealt with. (Do you think they will be dealt with peacefully, or will someone have to get violent?)

And also, in this chapter we will see some new faces (for this story at least, they show up all the time in the anime/manga.) But they won't appear until near the end, so you guys can also have fun trying to guess who they are. ^^

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach! If I owned Bleach, there would be no such thing as the ButterflAizen. XD

Beta'd by the wonderful _NekoYami911_

* * *

_Chapter 4_

Gin sighed, looking at Ichigo, who from his point of view, was upside down. He was lying on his back, his head hanging off the bed, staring at Ichigo while he studied. He had been living with Ichigo for about three weeks, and finals were coming up for the teen. So he was studying _all_ the time, leaving Gin with nothing to do since he couldn't draw or design because A) it would distract the orange haired Visored, and B) it would ruin the whole surprise that he was planning, simply because he could.

"Want help studyin'?" Gin asked.

"No. Be quiet," Ichigo said distractedly, staring at the papers on his desk, his head throbbing slightly with a quickly growing headache.

"Ah, don't be so cruel Ichigo. Let me help ya out," Gin said, rolling onto his stomach. His hair was still wet from the shower he had just taken, so water droplets spun away from the silver locks as he moved.

"I said no, Gin. Let me concentrate," the teen nearly growled.

'_Almost…'_ Gin thought. "But I'm just so bored. Ya should…" Before he could finish the substitute Shinigami pass started shouting, _'HOLLOW! HOLLOW! HOLLOW!'_

"Dammit!" Ichigo cursed, walking over to his dresser and fishing out the stuffed lion that his mod soul resided in.

"I-Ichigo! No, don't stick your fingers down my th-" And then the teens fingers were in the little toy's mouth, eventually pulling out the little green gikongan. He tossed it in his mouth and swallowed. Gin watched as Ichigo was pushed out of his body.

"I'll be back later," he said, jumping out the window into the night sky. Kon sat down in the desk chair, resting his chin in his hand.

"How long are you staying again?" Kon asked.

Gin looked back at him, and then sat up with a sigh. He walked over to the closet and pulled the fabric and paper out. "I dunno, Mr. Mod Soul. At least until Aizen is dead or locked up in some godforsaken dungeon in the Soul Society." He returned to the bed and sat down on the floor, sitting the paper in his lap and spreading the fabric out across the bed. "Where'd ya hide the needle an' thread?" he asked Kon, looking over his shoulder at him.

Kon stood, walking over to the dresser and rummaging through one of the drawers. "My name's Kon. You know that. Why do you still call me 'Mod Soul'?" the mod asked.

Gin shrugged. "Well I think its weird ta be call ya Kon when ya're in Ichigo's body. It don't seem right. An' when ya're in the stuffed animal, we dun usually talk."

"So as long as I'm in Ichigo's body, I'm not going to be called by my name?" he asked, producing a needle and thread. "Here."

The silver haired man nodded as he took the sewing supplies and started looking at the fabric, then the drawing, then the fabric. After a second he started sewing, and Kon stopped paying attention to what the man was doing with his hands, because he found it way to confusing. They sat in silence for a long moment, and Kon quickly got bored. He glanced at the papers on the desk, and gave up before even trying, knowing that was just a headache waiting to happen. So he looked back at the man on the floor, at the immense concentration in his face, and the fact that he didn't look depressed for once. He was always like that when he was sewing. And Gin only started sewing when Ichigo was gone, which meant Kon was the only one to see him look like this.

Eventually Kon got bored with the silence, so he asked the first question that came to mind. "Do you like Ichigo as more than a friend?"

Gin's eyes widened at the question, and his hand slipped along with his concentration, pricking his finger with the needle. He kept his head down, saying, "Wha' makes ya think that?"

"You act different around him. You mess with him more; it's almost to the point that it's considered flirting. You refuse to call me Ichigo's name when I'm in his body. And you don't sew or draw around him, as if you're embarrassed by the fact," Kon said, ticking each reason off on his fingers.

Gin laughed at first but dropped the mask after a second, realizing that the mod soul wasn't as stupid as he acted, and that he would see through the mask at this point. He sighed and turned to lean against the bed, looking at the closet door. "Truth o' the matter, I've liked Ichigo fer a long time. But wha' does it matter? As if he'd ever like me back. I've already accepted that. It doesn't matter. Even if he was gay, what person in their right mind would like me like that?" he said, voice even, as he ran a hand through his hair once. "An' he deserves better than me." Gin finally looked at Kon, eyes open and shining with too many feelings to really count or read.

Suddenly heavy reiatsu slammed down on them, and Gin's already open eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in anger. He grabbed his blue green sash and wrapped it around his neck like a scarf, then lifted the fabric off the bed, pulling it on over his head, revealing it to be a floor length black cloak. "Gin, what is that reiatsu?" Kon asked.

"It's an Espada. An' he's fightin' Ichigo," he hissed out, pulling the hood up, concealing his eyes and hair. He lifted the sash turned scarf to cover his mouth. "I'm going ta help Ichigo," he stated as he grabbed his Zanpakuto.

"But haven't you been concealing your reiatsu? If you use your sword then Aizen might know you're alive!"

Gin paused in the window, the wind blowing his cloak around gently. Without turning, the silver haired man said, with as much conviction as was possible, "Let him know. I dun care." And then he was gone, heading for the warring reiatsu. Kon jumped onto the bed and looked out the window into the night, wondering what to do, and how to help the man heading out to fight for his friend.

Gin was fast approaching the reiatsu, his cloak billowing around him as he landed on a roof not far away from the park where Ichigo was fighting. Gin looked down at the park for a long silent moment, debating his first course of action. He directed his gaze to the person who would be his opponent. _'Why's Nnoitra here?'_ he wondered, glaring at the eye patch wearing Espada. He was only cut across the chest, probably from one of Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho attacks.

Gin turned his attention to Ichigo, who was in worse shape. He was bleeding heavily from both his shoulder and his ribcage. He had released his sword to its Bankai state, and pulled out his hollow mask. When the sound of a chain rattling hit Gin's ears he turned to see Nnoitra throwing his scythe at Ichigo. Gin drew his sword and spun to the side, pointing the blade as his reiatsu rose, creating a violent wind blowing his cloak back. "Shoot to kill, Shinso," he said, thrusting the blade forward and watching as it extended and blocked the scythe just inches from Ichigo.

Nnoitra's head whipped around to look up at Gin. "Who the hell are you and what are you doing?" he shouted, pulling his scythe back to him. The silver haired Shinigami didn't speak. He retracted his sword and jumped down to stand in front of Ichigo. He kept his eyes on Nnoitra, not risking a glance at Ichigo, knowing that Nnoitra wasn't against attacking someone when their back was turned.

"G-Gin? What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked quietly, taking a step toward the cloaked figure.

"Ichigo, stay back. This'll be over fast," Gin said, his voice filled with protectiveness and concern that confused the orange haired teen. The emotion in the man's voice was so unlike him, that Ichigo had to wonder what the hell had happened to make him so caring towards him. But his thoughts were scattered quickly because then he got to watch Gin fight; actually fight, for the first time.

Nnoitra threw his scythe again, and Gin easily deflected it, disappeared from sight for a split second, and reappeared behind the black haired Espada, his sword extending towards it. He dodged the blade, turning and firing a cero from its tongue, revealing the number 5 tattooed on it. The cloaked man dodged it, stepping just out of its path as the wind the blast created blew his hood back. "Uh-oh, not good. Looks like the fox is outta the bag," he said, raising his hand to pull down his scarf and smile at Nnoitra.

He watched the smirk spread across the Espada's face. "Well well, look who we have here. Aizen said he killed you."

"Aizen lost his touch," Gin replied, extending his sword towards the man again. "Ya're goin' ta have ta do better than cero's an' a simple scythe Nnoitra."

"We'll see about that!" Nnoitra said, jumping forward and clashing his scythe's blade against Gin's sword, actually pushing the man back slightly. "What I want to know is why you left. Was Aizen to rough with you? Did something break? Could you not take it?"

Gin's expression didn't falter, but he did sigh internally. _'That crap again?'_ he thought. He pushed back against the much taller man, his grin widening. "Do I hear a touch o' jealousy, Espada number five?" he asked smoothly, throwing him away suddenly. "Well I know I see an opening." With that statement, Gin pointed his blade at the Espada, the blade extending towards him. Nnoitra bent backward the sword just barely scratching his chest. "Aw, I missed," Gin said, the blade going back to its normal length.

Nnoitra straightened and glanced at Ichigo, smirking. "Seems you found a new squeeze though, huh? Are you going to attack him when you're done with him too?" he asked, using sonido to appear behind Gin and throw his scythe at the ex-captain. Gin jumped out of the way, then his eyes widened. The scythe was heading for Ichigo. He utilized his shunpo abilities to make it just in time. He grasped the blade in his hand, a small portion of the metal cutting into his chest. He pushed the blade back with his hand, teeth gritted against the pain this action caused, and yet still keeping the unnerving grin plastered on his face. He turned the scythe and stabbed it hard into the ground. He held it in place and pointed his sword.

Nnoitra's eye widened as the blade extended towards him, going straight through his ribs near his heart. He grabbed the blade and pulled it out slowly. Then he jerked his arm hard, pulling his blade back to him. "Pray, Santa Teresa," he said. Gin watched, smile in place once more, as dust rose around them. When the cloud cleared, it revealed Nnoitra with four of his six arms and staffs, the horns resembling a crescent moon, and the now visible and mush larger mask fragment. The fox held his sword out to the side, and then pointed the blade down towards the ground. Ichigo watched as the reiatsu around the man became visible, and his clothes rippled slightly. There was a moment where everything was silent, and Ichigo swore that he could hear Gin's blood fall to the ground.

"Stay very still, Ichigo. I don't wanna go killin' ya by mistake do I?" Gin said, turning slightly to look at Ichigo. His eyes opened, and his expression looked almost seductive all of a sudden. Before Ichigo could think to react, the man in front of him turned back as Nnoitra charged. "Bankai, Kamishini no Yari."

Ichigo blinked in shock and when he looked again the Espada was missing an arm, and a few trees behind the black haired man were falling to the ground. There was an insane smile on Nnoitra's face at that point and he swung at Gin again as his fallen arm regenerated before their eyes. Gin blocked the first staff easily, and smoothly dodged the second. When Nnoitra swung with the third blade, the silver haired man jumped up onto the second staff, now stuck in the ground, still managing to hold the first staff back. "Do ya know how far this blade extends, Nnoitra? Or how fast? Nope. But guess what? I know all yer tricks," he said, and then he disappeared.

Nnoitra spun just as Gin appeared on the other side of the park, his sword gripped in both his hands and the hilt pressed firmly to his chest. "Kamishini no Yari, Buto," he said simply. Ichigo had to practically dive to the side to avoid being skewered by the blade that was suddenly protruding from Nnoitra's chest. And then the blade was its normal length once more. Gin let his arms fall to his side. "Ya know, there's somethin' interestin' 'bout that High-Speed Regeneration o' yers. When an internal organ, includin' the brain, is damaged in a fight, it stops workin'. Such a pesky weakness, that is. An', unless I'm sorely mistaken, I just hit yer lung wit' that one little attack. Only six limbs fer you, Mr. Quinto Espada. Sorry," the fox said, grinning widely while the Espada glared murderously at the man.

"Bastard!" Nnoitra spat out, stumbling slightly before righting himself. He used sonido to appear behind Gin, all six of his arms visible now, and all of them swinging a staff at the sliver haired ex-captain. "You're dead!" he shouted in anger.

Gin turned, and his eyes opened once more. "Too slow, Nnoitra," he said. A mere second later, no less than a second; a millisecond later, Gin's blade was straight through the 5th Espada's neck. "Bye-bye, Praying Mantis. Maybe I'll see you in hell," he said quietly. The Espada opened his mouth only to cough up blood, which hit Gin's cheek, leaving a spatter there that made Gin remember. _"Gin! Gin! Where were you Gin? Is that a Shinigami uniform? Where did you get that?"_

"…_I've made up my mind. I'm goin' ta become a Shinigami. I'm going to become a Shinigami an' change things. I'll fix it, so that they'll end… without Rangiku havin' to cry."_ He retracted his blade and stepped back as the ex-quinto Espada fell to the ground, his body already starting to disintegrate. He turned his head to look at Ichigo, and for a second, instead of the wide eyed teen, it was a young, appalled Rangiku staring back at him. The image vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, and he turned fully to face him. "Are ya okay Ichigo?" he asked, walking towards him while sheathing his sword, returning it to its sealed state. As the adrenaline rush from his battle faded, he was able to really examine the wounds that had been inflicted on the boy. Both were deep, he knew, but he hoped nothing major had been punctured. He frowned and looked closer at Ichigo. He had a fresher and much deeper cut through his upper arm. _'Damn. I did that,'_ he thought, sighing.

"Gin," Ichigo started to say, staring at him with a mix of wonder, awe, and confusion, not even realizing that he was swaying to and fro.

"Ichigo, I'll answer your questions later, but right now we need ta take care o' those-" he broke off and rushed forward to catch the falling Visored as he fainted. "Ichigo?"

When he didn't react, Gin cursed under his breath and gathered the teen in his arms, not even feeling the pain from the cut across his hand now. He froze when he felt the cool metal of a Zanpakuto blade near his throat. "Well well, I never expected to see someone of your status here. Long time no see," a light voice said. Gin slowly turned his head, his expression once again that of a snake, and met the cool grey eyes of the ex-captain wielding the sword.

"Urahara Kisuke. It's been a while," the traitorous ex-captain said calmly.

"Hand the boy over Gin." The second voice made him turned to look at the tanned woman in front of him.

"An' Yoruichi. It's like a 110 year reunion. The only people missin' are the Visoreds." He stopped talking when the blade pressed against his neck, making a shallow cut. "You're not very personable anymore, are ya Kisuke?"

"Not to people like you, Gin. What were you planning on doing with Kurosaki-kun?" the blonde haired man asked.

"And be careful about how you answer that, Ichimaru," Yoruichi warned dangerously.

"My my, how very scary ya are, Yoruichi." The pressure on his neck increased, and his smile faltered slightly. "I'll answer yer question when I don't have a blade at my throat, thanks." He turned at looked at Urahara expectantly. The blonde didn't move for a long moment, looking down at the snake-like being for a long, silent moment. Then the muscles in his arm tensed.

* * *

AN: Woo! End scene. Oh I'm an evil author, I left you guys with a cliff hanger. So, what do you think will happen? Is Kisuke gonna attack Gin? Will Gin have to fight the two of them and then make a quick get away with an unconscious Ichigo? Who knows? You will all have to wait and find out.

And also, what did you guys think of my fight scene between Nnoitra and Gin? I kinda tend to suck at fight scenes(at least I think I do... ^^ll) and I would love any imput you guys have. ^^ Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

AN: AN update guys! It's amazing! Well, I'm back from vacation, and it was probably my favorite vacation EVER! But, before I start yammering on about that, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for following and favoriting and reviewing! It means a lot that you guys like it!

I know I left you guys with an awful cliffhanger, and I apologize for being an awful person and leaving you in suspense. This is not as long as my last chapter, but I did have issues writing it.

* * *

_Chapter 5_

"_You're not very personable anymore, are ya Kisuke?"_

"_Not to people like you, Gin. What were you planning on doing with Kurosaki-kun?" the blonde haired man asked._

"_And be careful about how you answer that, Ichimaru," Yoruichi warned dangerously._

"_My my, how very scary you are, Yoruichi." The pressure on his neck increased, and his smile faltered slightly. "I'll answer yer question when I don't have a blade at my throat, thanks." He turned at looked at Urahara expectantly. The blonde didn't move for a long moment, looking down at the snake-like being for a long, silent moment. Then the muscles in his arm tensed._

* * *

When he saw the muscles in the shopkeeper's arm tense, he felt a flicker of uncertainty run through him. _'Can I beat both of them and get away? Maybe, if I didn't have Ichigo. I could leave him, they will care for him. But I can't. My damned heart won't let me leave him behind. I wish I was as snake-like as I claimed,'_ he thought. Then the blade had moved away from his neck. "Much better. I got tired o' swords at my neck after about the 11th one. Ya know?" he asked, smiling easily. He raised a hand when Urahara started to speak, cutting him off. "I know, I know. You've gotten impatient as well." Before the blonde man could speak again, Gin said, "I was never loyal ta Aizen. I was tryin' ta find out his weakness an' kill him myself. He found out, an' tried ta kill me. I got away, an' Ichigo saved me. An' now he needs help."

Yoruichi looked at Urahara in silent communication. After a moment she nodded and stepped closer to the silver haired man. "Give me Ichigo. I'll take him back to the Shoten and see you there."

Gin hesitated and looked down at the young man in his arms. He promised himself he would see that face again and handed him over with a nod. Yoruichi stared up at his slitted eyes, her expression daring him to try something as she took Ichigo and slung him over her narrow shoulder. Without another word she turned. If you blinked you would have completely missed her flash step. Even without blinking it was still ridiculously difficult to follow her moments, which just proved that she still held the title of the Goddess of Flash. After a short pause, Gin turned to look at Urahara. The blonde had discreetly moved back so that they stood on opposite sides of the park. The shopkeepers' sword was still drawn, unlike Gin's. An uneasy silence fell over the park and a soft wind ruffled his hair. All of this reminded Gin of some old western movie, with two cowboys (or Shinigami, in this case) ready for a duel or something. _'Let him make the first move. I attack him before he attacks me then I'm definitely the bad guy in his eyes,'_ he told himself. Across the park, Urahara tensed slightly.

Ichigo slowly, reluctantly, opened his eyes and looked around, squinting. The light coming through his bedroom window was making everything much too bright. He closed his eyes again, wanting to go back to sleep. Then the memory of Gin fighting that Espada flashed through his mind, he sat up quickly, wincing at the flare of pain in his ribs and shoulder. He looked over at the desk, then the open closet, finding both empty. _'Where's Gin?'_ he wondered, slightly panicked. He turned to look at the window, and nearly jumped off the bed in shock when he saw he accidental roommate sitting against the wall next to him, obviously asleep.

And, to Ichigo's surprise, Gin not only had normal clothes on, he was also in a gigai. The clothes were fairly plain, black shirt, black jeans, and a black jacket. The only not so plain part of his wardrobe was his blue green sash around his neck acting as a scarf. The man looked stunning in the normal clothing. He studied the man closely, eyes traveling across his body, looking for a sign that he had been injured. He was turned toward the teen, and he head was leaning against the cool glass of the window. His lips were parted slightly, and his eyelids would flicker and move every once in a while, showing that he was dreaming. One of his hands was lying palm up on the bed and the other was somewhere between his body and the wall.

For a moment, his brain just shut off and he was reaching forward. He brushed his fingertips against the hand lying near him. At the contact his brain shouted questions that seeing Gin, and touching his hand, brought to the surface. _'What the hell was that Espada talking about? Did Gin have some kind of romantic relationship with Aizen? Why was he so protective of me?'_

He let out a sigh and moved his hand to grab Gin's leg and shake it. "Hey, Gin. Wake up," he said. The man frowned slightly, and opened his eyes to look at Ichigo.

"Ichigo, how're ya feelin'? Wounds hurtin' at all?" he asked sleepily, holding back a yawn.

"What happened after I passed out? How did you get the gigai and clothes?"

Gin pushed himself away from the window, stretching. "Kisuke an' Yoruichi showed up."

"They didn't attack you?" Ichigo asked, frowning.

"Not really. They let me explain, an' then we went ta the Shoten. Urahara gave me the gigai an' clothes."

_Gin sat at a small table across from Urahara. The blonde haired man was sipping at his tea and acting as if everything was normal. After a moment the shopkeeper sat the cup down. "Gin," he started, looking at the ex-captain from under the brim of his hat. "Are you here because Aizen wants you to spy on us? On Kurosaki-kun?"_

"_If Aizen were lookin' ta spy then he would've sent Ulquiorra. Until recently he thought I was a crappy liar," Gin stated, smiling._

"_Why did you go to Kurosaki-kun and not someone else then?"_

"'_Cause anyone else woulda killed me."_

"_I wouldn't have. As a matter of fact I didn't," the blonde said, a smile suddenly spreading across his face. "How long have you been watching Kurosaki-kun?"_

_Gin's eyes opened a little bit in surprise. "How did ya know that I've been watchin' him, Kisuke?"_

"_You like him," Urahara stated instead of answering the question, eyes shining._

"…_Yes…" Gin said softly, eyes looking down at his lap._

"_Do you love him?"_

_Gin's eyes snapped back to the shopkeeper, stunned by the sudden question. He lost the ability to speak for a long moment, trying to process the question. His brain apparently wasn't working right either, because it couldn't come up with an answer, even though he wanted to know the answer for himself. He looked down at his lap with a frown, trying to make his brain work properly. His brain registered a sound, and he looked back up to see Urahara holding a fan in front of his face, effectively hiding his expression._

"_You don't need to answer that if you don't want to," he said. _'Your expression is enough of an answer,'_ he thought with a grin. The ex-12__th__ division captain stood and walked over to the door to the room and opened it. "Would you like to check on Kurosaki-kun while I attend to some business?"_

_Gin nodded, rose to his feet and composed himself, hiding behind the mask of a snake. He followed Urahara down the hall and into another room. A cot had been laid out in the center of the room and Ichigo was lying peacefully under the blankets. Gin walked slowly, silently, into the room, eyes glued to the sleeping teen. He heard the door close behind him, but didn't pay any attention to it. He quietly went to his knees next to the cot, placing his hands in his lap, his eyes traveling up to the face of the Visored._

_Ichigo's face was completely relaxed, the normal scowl that he wore gone. His hair was messier than usual and his tan skin was flushed slightly. The teen was so still, and if it weren't for the steady sound of his breathing and the reiatsu pouring off him, Gin might've thought he was dead. Without even realizing what he was doing, the snake-like Shinigami had shifted so he was leaning over the youths sleeping face, studying it more closely. He lifted a hand and touched gently, brushing across the tanned skin with his pale fingers._

_He quickly jerked away when the teen frowned slightly in his sleep. The door opened and Gin glanced over his shoulder at Urahara. The man gestured for him to follow and turned down the hall. He stood and, after glancing at the teen, turned and followed. He made his way to the main shop where he was basically pushed into a waiting gigai. His face twisted uncomfortably and he rolled his shoulders. He hadn't been in a gigai in over 50 years, and they weren't much more comfortable than they used to be. "I don't think I want a gigai. They're a hassle ta get out of," he stated, still rolling his shoulders around._

_Urahara raised a finger with a smile. "But that is a stealth gigai, my own personal invention. You won't need to leave it to use your Shinigami abilities. You can use your Zanpakuto, and the Soul Society won't know that you're here. I'll supply you with things you need for it, like fixers. You'll just owe me a favor. And, while Ichigo is healing you should take care of the hollows for him so that he doesn't strain himself," the man said, the ever-present fan in his face again._

_Gin sighed, looking down at the Zanpakuto at his waist. "Thanks, Kisuke," he said._

_The shopkeeper shook his head. "You should get Kurosaki-kun back home." Gin nodded and turned back down the hall to retrieve the orange haired teen._

Ichigo looked back at the clothes critically. "That doesn't look like something Urahara would own," he stated.

Gin looked down at the clothes he had made. "He gave me money ta buy them," he lied, surprised when he voice cracked in the middle of it. _'What the hell was that about? Why'd my voice crack? Can I really not lie ta Ichigo?'_ he wondered.

Ichigo scoffed. "Liar," he said, slightly amused by the sound of the man's voice cracking like that. The teen turned and stood, but he quickly stumbled as his knees gave out under him. He felt slim strong arms wrap around his waist and hold him up. He turned his head and met piercing ice blue eyes with his own chocolate brown ones. They stood like that for a few moments, and for a heart stopping second Ichigo thought Gin was going to close the distance between their faces and kiss him. But the man looked away from Ichigo and moved his arms up, so that they weren't around his waist anymore in an obvious, although not so obvious to Ichigo, attempt to make the situation less… intimate.

"You should be more careful Ichigo," Gin said in a voice that was just a touch too soft. Ichigo didn't take notice; he was preoccupied with his own thoughts as he stared up at the silver haired Shinigami with wide eyes.

'_Why was he acting so strange? Does he really care for me in a… way different from a simple friendship? Why would he, the ex-captain of the 3__rd__ division care about me that way? And what about what that Espada had said… did Gin have a relationship with Aizen that was more than just leader and subordinate?'_ he wondered. He forcefully pushed away the last question, deciding that it didn't matter anymore. But the other questions were more troublesome, and kept him from saying something, or anything.

Ichigo snapped out of his thoughts when he was suddenly moving, and then Gin had sat him down on the bed. "I'm goin' ta go get ya some food," the silver haired man stated as he walked out, not giving the teen the chance to ask how he was going to explain himself to his family.

Kon was suddenly on his lap, glaring up at him. There was a moment of silence before the little stuffed animal jumped up to hit Ichigo in the face. "Baka! What's wrong with you? That was the perfect chance to bust a move! Why didn't you?"

Ichigo sighed, looking at the closet. "Gin doesn't like me like that Kon. Leave it alone. And…" he sighed, frustrated that it still mattered to him anyways. "That Espada acted as though Gin had had a relationship with Aizen. I can't bring myself to say anything without knowing if it's true or not."

"Then just ask him! I'm sure he'll tell you!"

"No. It's not that simple."

"Then I'll ask for you!"

"No!" Ichigo said more forcefully glaring down at the mod soul.

Before Kon could say anything else Gin walked back into the room with a plate of steaming food. "Here ya go Ichigo," the man said with a smile, holding it out to the teen.

Ichigo took the offered food with a resigned sigh. He started eating, glancing up when he heard the fabric swish slightly as Gin moved, and saw him hoist himself up to sit on the shelf of the closet. "What did you tell my old man and sisters about why you're here?" he asked.

Gin looked over at him with a smile. "I said I was a friend o' yers that got kicked outta my house an' you let me stay here in exchange fer me tutorin' ya in calculus," he said, grabbing a piece of paper and starting to scribble something on it.

"What are you doing?"

"Writin'."

"Writing what?"

"Math problems."

"Why?" Ichigo asked with a frown.

Gin looked back up from his lap and smiled. "'Cause I'm yer tutor, Ichigo."

Not long after he finished eating, Ichigo fell asleep again. Gin switched out some papers and went to the desk. He sat down and was about to start drawing when Kon jumped up onto the desk. "Oh, Kon, what's the occasion fer comin' outta hiding in the dresser ta talk ta me?" the silver haired man asked with a smile.

"I wanted to ask you something," the mod stated, looking up at Gin.

"Go ahead."

"Did you have a relationship with Aizen?" Kon asked bluntly.

Gin opened his eyes in surprise and his eyebrows rose. "What kind o' relationship are we talkin' 'bout Kon?"

"The sexual kind."

"No," Gin said immediately in a voice suddenly filled with power. "I wouldn't be able ta live with myself if I…" he stopped, his jaw clenching and his face filled with disgust at the thought. Then he looked back at the stuffed lion. "What made ya think that?"

"Ichigo told me that the Espada last night had said some things that made it sound like there was a relationship between you and Aizen. Ichigo needed to know, before…" the mod broke off, looking away.

"Before what?" Gin asked, looking down at him seriously.

"Just do something for me, eh?"

"What?"

"Make the first move. Tell him how you feel." Without another word, Kon jumped over to the dresser and crawled back inside one of the drawers. Gin sat very still for a moment then looked over at the sleeping teen. After giving himself a few seconds of contemplation he slowly rose from his seat and walked over to the bed, his sketches forgotten. He sat down next to the bed, rested his arm on the bed, and propped his head up with his hand. He looked at Ichigo's sleeping face for a handful of heartbeats and allowed his thoughts to drift.

'_Make the first move? I'm not too sure 'bout doin' that. He might not like what he hears. An' then it would be forever awkward between us… but if I don't then I'll forever regret not tellin' him. An' with what Kon said… it sounded a lot like he knows somethin' that I don't. I could beat it outta him, but I'm not one fer unnecessary violence… most the time.'_ Instead of thinking about it all night he let his eyes drift closed. He got more comfortable; his head lying on the bed now, and fell asleep next to Ichigo's smell.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: What is this?! Miracle of miracles! It's an update! This is cause for celebration!

Welllll... maybe not. But it's still awesome that I finally got to update. A whole bunch of a bunch has happened over the past... wow... 5 months. Of course stuff has happened.

Sorry I couldn't update for so long. I moved to another state, started my senior year of high school, finally have an awesome boyfriend, and ate some cake on my birthday. ^^ (And to add to that now I'm sick as a dog[I've always wondered where that expression comes from...])

The downfall to this is that at my dads house there wasn't a single computer with Word Document. D: This was a curse to my writing and updating abilities! But now I have a laptop with Word so I can update to my hearts content.

And I must apologize greatly for how long it has taken me to update! Thank you SOOOOOOOO much to everyone who commented and favorited and followed and all that good stuff. And thank you for waiting, I know this update gap was ridiculous.

Anyways. Enough about me and my issues. Enjoy, rate, comment, leave a message after the beep. *random voice shouts from outside my window* That's for phone messages you FOOL!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. If I did there would be no such talk of my fav characters trying to die. (I know they aren't trying to, but I must blame them ^^ll)

Beta'd by the fabulous _NekoYami911_

* * *

_Chapter 6_

Ichigo woke up to the sound of his alarm clock ringing loudly and obnoxiously. He opened his eyes slowly, and the first thing he saw was silver. When his eyes finally focused he said Gin's face. The man was sitting on the floor, his head resting on his arms crossed in front of him on the mattress, with his hair managing to cover most of his closed eyes. Ichigo figured his roommate must be dead tired if the alarm clock still hadn't woken him up. After giving a small involuntary shudder at how close their faces were, he reached over to his clock and shut it off.

He looked back at the sleeping person, and wondered idly if his hair was as soft as it looked. Ichigo wasn't planning on figuring it out, fearful that he might wake Gin up. So he sat up, slowly so as not to disturb the silver haired man, and grabbed the empty plate of food from last night. With a small wince at the pain in his ribs, he stood, watching the fox the whole time, looking for any change, any reaction in the others face as he made his way to the door.

Gin was having a wonderful dream. He was sprawled out comfortably under a persimmon tree, eyes shut contentedly, his snake like smile now nothing more than a mere quirk of the lips. A calm breeze hit his face, and with the cool breeze came the sound of his name being called. He opened his eyes just a little bit, so that he could only see a small part of the world that could be both beautiful and cruel at once, and lifted his head to see who had called out. Rangiku was running toward him with Kira Izuru in tow. The woman's blonde hair bounced enthusiastically as she ran towards her longtime friend, smiling happily. Gin felt a smile tug his own lips up as he rose to his feet, feeling the fabric of his haori brush against his pants gently, a silent reminder of who he was meant to be.

Before they reached him, the scene changed; now Kira was gone and Rangiku was a small child again, with unevenly cut short hair and already promising assets. She was running across the snow covered ground, calling his name with confusion in her voice. Her face was dirty, and her expression told him that she had been up all night, waiting. Gin took a step towards her, raising his hand and reaching forward, wanting to tell her that he wasn't going anywhere, that everything was okay. The child reached out to take his hand.

The scene changed for a final time, and instead of Rangiku's small hand grasping his, it was a bigger, warm, tan hand that grasped his. Gin looked up at Ichigo with a smile as his long fingers closed around the teen's hand. After that, all that echoed through the space under the persimmon tree were whispered conversations and low chuckles, none of which would be remembered when the dreamer woke.

Gin opened his eyes slowly and looked at the empty bed in front of him. He groaned and sat up, rolling his head around, effectively popping his neck at least seven times. _'Ouch,'_ he thought, stretching his arms above his head, listening to the telltale crack of his elbows and shoulders. When he decided to move onto stretching out his legs, he remembered that Ichigo shouldn't be moving around yet. Gin tried to stand up quickly, but a sudden wave of dizziness combined with he completely numb legs had him falling backwards onto the bed. His head hit the wall hard, and he let out a high pitched yelp of surprise. He was so focused on trying to get the world to stop spinning that he didn't even realize that he had an audience.

Ichigo walked back into his room after the long shower he had taken just in time to see Gin fall back onto the bed with an alarmed cry. The teen let out a laugh at the stunned man, who focused his icy blue eyes on him instantly. "I didn't know you were such a klutz Gin," he laughed.

A flirtatious grin appeared on the fox's face as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "There's a lot ya don't know 'bout me."

Ichigo simply raised a brow and said, "Uh-huh, right," and walked over to his desk to gather his school stuff.

Gin watched him with a slight frown. "What're ya doin'?" he questioned.

"Getting ready for school," the brown eyed teen replied without looking up.

Gin shook his head. "No you're not."

"Yes I am, Gin."

"Wrong. I told yer dad you were sick last night, an' that he should call ya in."

Ichigo turned a glare on the man sitting on his bed, but the glare faded away when he saw that, while the fox was grinning, his amazingly beautiful eyes were open and looking at him with concern. The teen stood still for a second before sinking into the chair with a resigned sigh. "Fine. But only for this one day," he said. Gin's smile widened triumphantly and the orange haired teen scowled at him in response. After a minute or two of this, Ichigo turned to his desk, deciding to study for the time being.

Gin silently watched him start working. In the silence that followed he remembered what Kon had said the day before. _'Make the first move, eh? Not sure if I can manage that… I dun think I could even get the words out… I'd probably change it to a different topic. But… maybe I won't have to say it…'_

With his mind made up, the silver haired man leaned towards Ichigo, watching him for a moment longer before speaking. "Have ya ever kicked yerself for puttin' somethin' off fer no good reason?"

The teen shrugged, not looking up. "I think everyone has. Why do you ask?"

Gin silently scooted closer as he continued, "There's somethin' I've been puttin' off, an' I jus' decided ta stop."

He watched the frown cross Ichigo's features as he tried to figure out exactly what the silver fox meant. As the brown eyed youth started to turn to give him a questioning look, Gin made his move. He reached forward, hooking his fingers under the chair and pulling it closer to the bed. He grabbed the startled teens face in his hands when he was close enough, leaning down and pressing his lips against the others' soft yet slightly chapped ones.

Ichigo gasped into the kiss, eyes flying wide. For a number of heartbeats he couldn't move, couldn't process what was going on. Eventually he was able to sort out his suddenly very scattered thoughts. The kiss was soft, tentative almost, yet hopeful. Gins lips were smooth and gentle against his and his hands were doing nothing more than caressing the skin on Ichigo's face. He didn't really know what to do, so he let his instincts take over and relaxed into the kiss, his hands finding their way up to the other's shoulders.

When he felt the teen lean into the kiss and wrap his arms around the back of his neck, Gin's tense muscles relaxed and he let out a small sigh of relief. A millennium of heartbeats later, Gin pulled back somewhat reluctantly. "Ichigo…" he started in a softer voice, looking at the somewhat hazy brown eyes. "What that Espada said… there was no-" He was cut off as the other male's lips pressed against his again, and then pulled back.

"You don't have to say it Gin. I know," he said.

A smile tugged at the fox's lips as he let his hands fall to his lap. _'I'm glad…'_ he thought to himself. Gin, unable to really help himself, leaned in for another kiss. He was planning on deepening the kiss this time, but his plans were ruined when he felt a familiar reiatsu fast approaching. He pulled back, turned to look at the window, then stood and dove into the closet, actually hiding under the shelf where the extra blankets, as well as some of the stuff he was creating, were.

Ichigo watched confusedly as Gin slid the door shut, and had just enough time to wonder why before Rukia and Renji were in his room, Shinigami robes billowing around them. He felt his eyes widen and had to fight down the blush trying to rise to his face when he realized that he had almost gotten caught in the middle of a kiss with Gin. "Rukia? Renji? What are you two doing here?"

"Urahara told me that you had fought and killed an Espada. We wanted to make sure you hadn't gotten yourself killed like an idiot," the redhead responded.

Gin just barely refrained from groaning as he tried to shift his position, the blankets and sheets he was currently tangled in not as comfortable as one would be led to think. The tiny space combined with the darkness and the fabric made him feel like he was being smothered. The door opened and the fox buried himself deeper in the blankets before looking up at a very amused Ichigo.

"They're gone. You need help getting out?" the teen laughed.

Gin scowled and shifted as he spoke, "I'm fine. I can get outta a closet." He tried to sit up, only to have his head make contact with the shelf. A frustrated growl sounded from the back of the silver haired man's throat as he struggled to free his arms and legs from the fabric that seemed to have decided he had to remain trapped here forever as pay back for cutting up their cousins.

A few minutes of cursing and useless flailing from Gin later (and near constant laughter from Ichigo), the man had finally freed himself and rolled out of the closet. He turned a glare on the closet, which looked like it had just been swept up by a tornado then spat out again. The orangette, who seemed to be trying to catch his breath, took one look at the Shinigami on the floor and cracked up again.

He turned a scowl on the teen and stood, stalking towards the door. "I'm takin' a shower." Ichigo didn't seem to hear him, now lying on his side on the bed, his arms over his stomach as he laughed. Without another word, Gin left the room and went down the hall to the bathroom. When he was in front of the mirror he understood why Ichigo had been so amused. His hair, which was usually tame and cooperative, was sticking up everywhere, as well as being frizzy. The icing on the cake was that there was a piece of fabric tangled in his hair.

He chuckled at his reflection and sighed, starting to work on getting the fabric out of his hair. There was a small knock on the door but Gin didn't turn his head. "Come in," he said absently, giving an experimental tug on the fabric.

The door opened and soon the orange haired teen was reflected in the mirror. "Need some help?" his companion asked, trying not to laugh.

After a moment of hesitation and a sigh the elder of the two nodded, dropping his hands to the counter as long tan fingers started gently combing through his hair. He could feel himself start relaxing almost instantly, enjoying the sensation. They went on like this for a few silent seconds before one of them could think of something to say.

_'His hair really is as soft as it looks…'_ Ichigo thought, his fingers still untangling the piece of fabric from the others messy hair. A glimpse of his reflection in the mirror showed that his expression had become very relaxed, and almost peaceful.

"So what made ya decide to come in here an' help me, Ichigo?" Gin asked finally, breaking the silence.

Ichigo looked up at the mirror and met slitted eyes. He shrugged and looked back at the fabric. "I figured you would need help and I don't want to end up finding random silver hairs everywhere."

Gin chuckled. "Liar. Ya jus' wanted ta run yer fingers through my hair," he claimed with a smile.

Ichigo felt himself start to blush at the man's words and he lightly hit his companion on the head then sat the bit of fabric down on the counter next to Gin's hand. "Have a nice shower Gin," he told him, leaving the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

Gin watched him leave with a small smile. He leaned against the counter and closed his eyes. A second later there was a loud and annoyed shout from Ichigo and a crash. Quickly following that was a cry of joy and pain, and then another crash. With a quiet chuckle, he pushed away from the counter and went over to the shower to turn the water on.

* * *

AN: Yay! It's done! And Gin finally stopped being all lack-of-move-y! :D

So tell me what you all think! Did I keep Gin and Ichigo in character? (that's always my biggest fear.) Was the smoochy scene good?

Thanks so much for reading and I promise the next update won't be so far away.

P.S. Sorry for my random and sudden immature soundingness in these ANs. As mentioned I am sick and slightly delirious. I thank you for putting up with the crazieness that is me right now lol. ^^


	7. Chapter 7

__AN: Okay, so I know I promised shorter update gaps, and this is shorter, but I was kinda freaking out about putting this chapter in because this WHOLE chapter is my first **_lemon_** scene. I was terrified to put it up here, because I'm afraid I did a awful job with it(despite what a certain NekoYami911 says about it). So, to get over my freak out, I'm putting up TWO, count em, TWO chapters today.

So if you wanna skip the lemon, all I can say is read the first paragraph of this chapter, then move on to the next chapter.

And again, thank you everyone for commenting, favoriting, and following this silly story, and I encourage you to continue to do this, oh and if you have any questions you REALLY want answered about this story, or you want to request that I write another story, or you want to give advice on how I can improve, you can always message me instead of commenting, because I can promise I'll get back to messages fast. So enjoy, and be semi-gentle with the reviews, but don't be afraid to be honest with me.

And now... **WARNING: THIS CHAPTER DOES CONTAIN LEMON, IT'S ACTUALLY PRETTY MUCH THE WHOLE CHAPTER. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, OR DON'T WANT TO READ IT, THEN DON'T. I'M NOT PUTTING ANY BREAKS IN BECAUSE AFTER THE FIRST PARAGRAPH THINGS GET HEATED. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK OR ENJOYMENT.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, and I doubt I will any time soon.

Beta'd by the wonderous _NekoYami911_

* * *

_Chapter 7_

Ichigo felt himself shudder slightly as a warm breath ghosted teasingly over his lips. His back was pressed against one of the walls of his apartment. Just under a month had passed since Gin had first kissed him. After that, the teen had taken and passed his finals, and graduated. He had gotten a job at a local café as a waiter, and his silver haired companion helped out at Urahara Shoten whenever Renji wasn't around. Apparently he also had another job, which he refused to tell Ichigo about, but he didn't really complain since their combined salary had gotten them the little two bedroom apartment. Earlier that day they had brought in all of Ichigo's belongings, along with a box that was supposedly Gin's stuff, something that the orange haired teen wasn't allowed to see. And of course the man had distracted the hormonal time bomb from his argument that he deserved to know what the silver haired man had brought into the place very easily.

Gin pushed away from the wall where he had his brown eyed boyfriend pinned and grinned in response to the glare he had earned. "Time for bed, Ichigo," he said.

"If it's time for bed then I need a good night kiss," the teen responded.

Gin's grin widened. "An' if I don't give ya a kiss?" he asked.

Ichigo looked up at the taller male. "Then I'll have to take it by force."

Suddenly there were hands braced against the wall on either side of the orangettes shoulders, and the blue eyed man had leaned down to look at the younger male. "Well we can't allow you an' your teenage hormones ta take the wheel. Things might get outta control," he said, closing the distance between their lips.

Ichigo's arms instantly went around his shoulders while his fingers laced through silver hair as the kiss deepened. Their tongues warred for dominance. Gin's body suddenly pressed against the teen's, not allowing for much movement. He felt hands trailing down his chest to his hips, where slim fingers grabbed a hold of him and pulled their bodies even closer so that they could both feel the bulge in the others jeans. Ichigo slowly freed his fingers and moved his hands to grab the edge of the black jacket his boyfriend wore, pushing at it, trying to get rid of the material keeping him from touching the others skin.

Gin let go of the other's hips simply to help him discard the jacket, all the while never breaking the kiss. Apparently not wanting to waste any more time, Ichigo's hands moved down his chest to grip the edge of his shirt. With a smile tugging at his lips, the silver haired man pulled out of the kiss, planting kissed along his boyfriend's jawbone and neck, letting out a soft purr of encouragement as his own fingers tugged playfully on the edge of the orangettes shirt.

Ichigo's grip on the shirt tightened and he started to pull the fabric up tentatively while he tilted his head up and back to allow Gin easier access to his neck. The mouth against his skin was suddenly gone, and seconds later his shirt was being discarded to the floor. The black shirt his companion wore soon followed it. Their lips collided again as he was once again pinned between the wall and the taller male.

The eldest of the two pulled back and looked at the flustered Visored in front of him with a small smile. He leaned forward and whispered, "Bedroom." An uncertain look crossed Ichigo's face for a moment and Gin let out a small sigh and ground his hips against his young lover's once. He watched as brown eyes widened and Ichigo let out a small groan. A triumphant smile crossed the silver haired man's face as he repeated, "Bedroom."

Once in his room, Ichigo was unceremoniously thrown onto his bed. Seconds later Gin was on top of him, his hands on either side of his head. Before the orange haired teen had a chance to react to the new position, a soft mouth was pressed against his, and he very quickly lost himself in the kiss, hands grabbing the others bare shoulders, appreciating the muscles there. His mind didn't really register much until hips ground against his, creating pleasurable friction.

Gin smiled a little when Ichigo responded, moving his hips tentatively. But the fox was done with foreplay, and he moved one hand down to start undoing the other male's pants. To keep his soon to be lover distracted, to keep him from chickening out, he broke the kiss and moved down to the tan neck, now tinted a charming pink. After taking a moment to find the pulse point, he bit down and sucked, appreciating the low moan his action earned him.

Before Ichigo even realized it, Gin had managed to discard his grey jeans, leaving him in just his boxers. He shifted a little bit uncomfortably, his hazy and scattered brain just now realizing what he was about to do. "G-Gin?" he asked shakily.

Gin detached himself from the teen's neck and raised his head, blue eyes meeting brown. "What is it, Ichigo?" he asked softly. He watched as his boyfriend met his gaze for a moment then looked away nervously. The silver haired man nodded to himself in understanding and lifted one hand to turn Ichigo's face back to him. "If you want me to stop, just tell me, and I will," he breathed, the accent absent from his voice in that moment. After a long few seconds the young man under him nodded, giving him permission to continue.

Gin leaned down for another kiss, slower and less lust filled than the previous ones. Eventually, though, it deepened and became very much like their last lip lock. Eventually, Ichigo's fingers fumbled to undo Gin's black jeans. When they were finally unbuttoned and unzipped, the silver haired Shinigami discarded them, boxers now the only thing keeping the two from complete nudity. By this point both Gin's and Ichigo's erections had become rather painful, so the fox wasted no more time pulling their boxers off and tossing them to the floor. "I don't suppose ya unpacked lotion or anythin' like that," he stated as he admired the tan, muscular body laid out before him.

Ichigo shifted uncomfortably under the icy blue stare as he shook his head no. He felt very, very exposed under that mesmerizing gaze. He wanted to squirm away and put his clothes back on, or crawl under the covers and hide, or- his thoughts were scattered in seconds when a hand took hold of his weeping erection and started to pump it torturously slow. He tried to move his hips, to make Gin move his hand faster, but a knee pressed on his hip, holding it still while the fingers of his free hand pressed to the teen's lips. "Suck," the man above him commanded as he started moving his hand a little faster.

Ichigo obeyed with a quiet groan, trying to keep sounds to a minimum as he swirled his tongue around the other man's fingers. He heard a soft '_tsk_' from his companion and opened his eyes in time to see a wicked grin spread across the other's features. It was an unnerving kind of grin that practically screamed "DEVIOUS PLOT" in big bold letters. "No sounds?" Gin asked, his voice taking on a seductive and taunting tone. "That simply won't do." With that he let go of the teen and pulled his fingers free. The orangette watched warily as Gin trailed his hands down his thighs to his knees, pushing his legs apart, trying not to shudder at the sensation. Gin hands left a tingling sensation where ever they had been. His wariness grew as his companion let his face hover over the awaiting erection, that grin on his face taking a seductive appearance as he repositioned himself.

After a short pause, Gin leaned down and licked up Ichigo's length before taking the tip in his mouth, giving one long suck. The action pulled a moan of pleasure from the teen. _'That's better,'_ he thought while one of his wet fingers traced his partner's entrance teasingly. He took in more of Ichigo's length, giving another long hard suck as he slid one finger inside the tight space.

Ichigo moaned in both pleasure and discomfort as his back arched, and Gin pulled back away from the member, moving up to eye level and kissing the teen as he slid a second finger in, prompting another loud moan. He shushed his lover as he started moving his fingers in and out until the discomfort had left the teens face. His fingers brushed against the bundle of nerves that was the younger man's prostate, pulling a strangled cry from the form below him as dull nails dug into his back. With a triumphant smile, he added a third finger, making sure to brush them across Ichigo's sweet spot as he moved them in and out.

Deciding that Ichigo was ready, Gin removed his fingers. He spit in his hand and started coating his own neglected erection in saliva. When he was done he positioned himself so that the tip of his cock brushed against the teen's entrance. He paused and looked up, his shining blue eyes meeting hazy, half gone eyes questioningly. After a moment, the young Visored nodded, giving him permission to continue. Gin advanced forward slowly, giving the other time to adjust to the new sensation. He heard a small whimper of pain and discomfort, but he didn't look at the orangette's face, knowing that he would feel guilty for causing the expression that was surely on his love's face.

When he was finally fully sheathed, he leaned down and drew Ichigo into a long kiss that lasted as long as it took for the tight muscles around him to slowly relax. When Gin finally broke the kiss, the younger looked at him and said quietly, probably to keep any nervousness or discomfort out of his voice, "You can move now, Gin."

With a small nod, Gin started to move his hips slowly. The orange haired teen had his eyes closed, his face scrunched up and his fingers biting into the older man's shoulders. Gin watched Ichigo's expression as he pulled out almost completely, watched the confused frown cross his features. He took hold of the tan, boney hips, changed the angle slightly, and thrust in quickly, hitting the sweet spot within dead on. A cry of pleasure sounded from under him as his lover's back arched and his toes curled. Very much appreciating the reaction, the taller male repeated the motion, just managing to keep himself from thrusting in and out of the tight heat as fast and hard as he could.

After a few more of those movements, Ichigo managed to gasp out in a hoarse voice, "Gin… speed up." With a wide smile, Gin happily obliged, moving faster, being careful to hit that sweet spot every time, which never failed to pull a moan or cry of pleasure from Ichigo, some of them wordless noises, others words that tended to contain either the silver haired man's name, or a curse. At some point, long legs had wrapped around Gin's waist, and both men were moving in tandem with each other as pants and moans echoed around the room.

Ichigo's neglected erection throbbed painfully. As he started to loosen his hold on his partner's shoulders to reach for it, long fingers grasped his length, pulling a small gasp of surprise from him. Seconds later Gin was pumping it in time to their movements. The orangette's grip on the other's shoulders tightened as he panted out, "G-Gin… I-I'm g-going to..." Before he could get the last words out, his lover pulled out completely and then thrust back in hard. It sent the writhing body under him over the edge with one last cry of pleasure. The elder of the two quickly followed him as he felt the muscles around him tighten. The experience left them both breathless and more than a little tired. When Gin came back to himself somewhat, he pulled out of Ichigo and rolled off of him to lie on the bed next to him. Without further ado, both men fell asleep, their bodies pressed against each other.

* * *

AN: Well, there you have it. I still feel like it was horrible and it took many hours of contemplation before I put this chapter up. Thank you for reading, and please let me know what you think, whether through messaging me, or through comments. Tell me if anything can be improved, And I'll talk to you all in the next chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

__AN: Alrighty, so like I said, I would upload two chapters today, in case you wanted to skip over the lemon part that was the previous chapter. And this chapter is super important. This is where things get serious. We shall see someone from Hueco Mundo again, ohh who could it be? Dun dun DUN!

Anyways, Thanks for all the reviews, and all that good stuff. Let me know if I can improve anything and, as always, please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. If I did I would probably have a nice castle house, because I love me some pretty castles.

Beta'd by the fantastical _NekoYami911_

* * *

_Chapter 8_

Gin opened his eyes so that just a small portion of the blue could be seen. He turned his head to look at the person next to him, still slumbering peacefully, and his eyes softened more than anyone had probably ever seen or thought possible. Ichigo was using his companions arm as a pillow; he was facing towards him, with one arm draped across his pale chest. A small smile spread across his face as he watched his lover sleep. Gin wasn't sure how long he stayed there like that, with their steady breathing the only sound echoing softly around the room, but he was content. The quiet was disturbed by a small groan, as the teen woke up slowly, squinting against the light coming in through the window. Ichigo opened his eyes more as they adjusted. The smile on the fox's face widened just a bit. "Good morning, Ichigo."

Ichigo's eyes fell on Gin and a blush rushed up his face as memories from the night before filled his mind. He tried to smile back, but it probably ended up as more of a nervous grimace. "Good morning," he whispered back in an attempt to keep the nervous quiver out of his voice.

Gin's smile only softened in response. "What is it?" he asked.

Ichigo bit his lip nervously and looked at the ceiling. After a second he sighed, rolled onto his back, and scooted closer to the man, resting his head on his shoulder. "Nothing, Gin," he said, looking up at his boyfriend. Gin smiled and leaned down for a kiss just as Ichigo's stomach rumbled loudly, stopping him in his tracks just before their lips touched.

Gin laughed and sat up, pulling the teen with him. "Hungry, I take it." When the blushing Ichigo nodded yes, the man's smile widened. "Go take a shower. We can go get some food after we've both cleaned up," he said.

After a moment of hesitation, Ichigo nodded and nervously climbed over Gin to get to his box of clothes. He was relieved when his… his lover didn't move, giving him space, and time, to adjust. Once he had dug through the box and found clothes, he turned to look at the blue eyed man. He was leaning comfortably against the wall, eyes closed, with a small smile on his face. The teens gaze traveled down the long, lean body, his cheeks and neck starting to burn with a blush. He swallowed and slipped out of the room, heading for the bathroom, clothes clutched to his chest.

Gin waited until the bathroom door closed before standing and stretching languidly. He grabbed his pants and boxers before exiting the room. He paused to grab his shirt and jacket then turned to his bedroom, which would end up as storage if he had his way. He walked in, sat his clothes down, and pulled the large, plain cardboard box over to a pile of blankets that were meant to serve as a bed. He settled down and pulled a blanket over his crossed legs and hips before opening the box.

Ichigo let the warm water wash over his face as he tried to make his brain properly process everything. He had had sex for the first time? That wasn't such a difficult thing to process, it would've happened sooner or later, he could handle that. He had had sex for the first time with another man? That was a little bit more difficult to process, but he could handle that. He had had his suspicions about his sexual preference for a while now. He had had sex with Ichimaru Gin, ex-captain and "traitor" to the Soul Society? A hell of a lot more difficult to process. He admitted that he had thought that the man was downright gorgeous when he first saw him. But never in his wildest dreams had he thought he would fall in love with the fox, especially when he had left the Soul Society with Aizen.

And now, here he was, living in an apartment with that man. He sighed and turned off the shower. When he was dressed and his teeth had been brushed, he opened the door and stepped into the living room. He peeked into his room, frowning when he found it empty. After a moment of contemplation, he turned and walked to the room that was supposed to belong to his companion. He opened the door to see the man he was looking for sitting on the floor, covered up with a blanket and holding a grey jacket with black lining. He had a threaded needle in his hand, and fabrics of all colors were splayed out all around him.

When Ichigo entered, Gin looked up, and sighed, still grinning. "Ah, looks like the cat's outta the bag…" he said, going back to sewing.

Ichigo blinked a few times. "You sew?" he asked, surprised that Gin would do something like that.

Gin nodded, trying to focus on his work. "Originally I only designed clothes, but I can sew so…" he said, shrugging. "I'll make clothes for this nice little store I found." He held the jacket out and examined it carefully. It was a replica of Coyote Starrk's, but instead of the main color being white he changed it to greyish silver, and left the black lining. At the bottom corner he had sewn a light blue fox head, which he had decided to use as his signature. The ex-captain scowled at the fabric, annoyed that his creative process was so awful when he wasn't designing for someone in particular.

"Gin…" Ichigo's voice broke through his thoughts, and he lowered the fabric to meet the young Visoreds stare.

"Yes, Ichigo?" he asked.

"Why didn't you tell me about it?"

Gin shrugged and started tossing the rolls of fabric back in the box next to him. "I don't really remember," he said, standing and walking to the closet with the jacket in hand, apparently not bothered by the fact that he had no clothes on whatsoever.

For a few seconds, Ichigo didn't really register this, but when he did, he was sure his face turned five different shades of red. He purposefully tried to keep his eyes up, eventually focusing on the wall. He tried to get his face to return to its normal shade, but he was sure that it wasn't working at all.

Gin put the jacket in a hanger and turned back, his grin returning full force when he saw how incredibly red Ichigo's face was. The irresistible urge to tease the blushing teen overtook him as he grabbed his pile of clothes to go take a shower. "Ya know, my dear Ichi, when ya blush like that ya really do remind me o' a strawberry," he said as he slipped past Ichigo, heading for the bathroom.

Ichigo stood still for a second, then scowled and looked at Gin. "Shut up, you ass," he snapped irritably.

Gin paused and looked over his shoulder with a smile. After a few seconds he turned and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Ichigo waited until he heard the water start then looked back at Gin's room. Sitting on the floor, half buried under some fabric that hadn't been thrown back in the box, was a stack of papers. With one last glance at the bathroom door, he walked into the bedroom and grabbed the papers. He slipped back out into the living room and sat down on a box before looking at the top paper.

The first page contained what Gin would probably say was nothing more than a sketch, a _very_ detailed sketch. There was a drawing of a man with no face on the paper. The man with no face was slouched forward slightly, and one hand was stuck in the pocket of his baggy pants. He had shaggy hair that went down to his chin, each strand meticulously drawn, as if the artist had forgotten that this was meant to be a reference for clothes, which were so detailed that it amazed Ichigo. Every wrinkle of the jacket was drawn in, every crease and fold placed perfectly. What was even more shocking was that the man with no face looked almost 3-dimensional, his thin, lanky body about ready to jump off the page and wander his tiny apartment. Around the man were notes in Gin's perfect handwriting, with arrows pointing to the jacket. _'Silver', 'black', 'grey', 'cross-stitch tack', 'overcast', 'blind stitch', 'formfitting', 'thin material'._

After staring at the man with no face with surprised eyes, he moved on to page two. This drawing was very much like the one before it, detail after flawless detail, with two big differences. The first, this was a drawing of an all-black cloak. The second, this man had a face, Gin's face as a matter of fact. Ichigo raised a brow and smiled softly, shaking his head. He knew his boyfriend had lied about the clothes. He moved on, not taking long to look at the next three pages because they were all drawings off the shirt jeans and jacket that Gin wore.

When Ichigo moved on to page five, his eyes widened at shock. This was definitely not a design, but an actual piece of art. It was the drawing of what looked like a meadow, with one lone tree in the foreground. There was a man standing under that tree, his back facing Ichigo, with a captain's haori in mid-wave, blown by an imaginary wind. You could clearly see the symbol for the 3 division upon the back, and Ichigo realized that the man under the tree was meant to be Gin. In the distance there were two figures running towards the tree, and Gin, but they had very little detail, and Ichigo couldn't make out their faces at all to figure out who they were. There was something sad about this drawing, the image of Gin waiting for the far away figures that would never reach him. And yet, there was also a calm acceptance in the picture, as if he was saying goodbye for one final time, to those two people that must have been his friends.

Ichigo sighed and was about to move on to the next page when he heard the shower turn off. Feeling suddenly guilty for invading Gin's privacy, he quickly ran back into the room and put the papers back where he had found them. He returned quickly to his box and snatched up his old, tattered, copy of _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, flipping it open to a random page and starting to focus intently on it when the bathroom door opened and his blue eyed lover stepped out.

Gin had on only his jeans and a towel, which was draped over his head. One of his hands was busying itself with moving the towel around in an attempt to dry off his dripping hair, the other hand holding his black shirt and jacket. Ichigo tore his gaze away from the well-muscled, pale chest to meet the mans slitted eyes. After a long, silent moment, the fox tossed the towel back into the bathroom carelessly and pulled his shirt on, soon followed by his jacket.

"Are ya ready ta go, strawberry?" Gin practically purred.

Ichigo's expression quickly twisted into a scowl and he snapped, "Don't call me that, you creepy fox face."

That only succeeded in making the man's grin widen. "Let's go then, strawberry," the man said, walking smoothly to the door and putting his shoes on, easily ignoring the daggers his lover was sending his way.

Tier Harribel stood in the sky high above Karakura Town. She was on a reconnaissance mission for Aizen-sama, because Ulquiorra wasn't available for a reason that was very secret so that the Shinigami never found out and used it to their advantage. Due to the slight imperfection of the Hogyoku, every 3 months after an Espada's creation they revert to their Vasto Lorde state for two days. Because of the emotionless 4th Espada's absence, the blonde Amazonian looking woman was stuck with observing Kurosaki Ichigo at his new apartment for the day.

Seeing as that was her only job, she was expecting her day to be rather uneventful as she looked down at the boy's dwelling, waiting for him to come outside. A gentle breeze started up, blowing around her already messy hair. After about 20 minutes of waiting, the door to the apartment opened and the orange haired youth she had been waiting for walked out. Harribel frowned slightly when it seemed like Ichigo was waiting for someone to follow him. Her green eyes widened when she saw Ichimaru Gin walk out of the apartment after the boy. _'What? Ichimaru is supposed to be dead. Aizen-sama told us… he had had to kill him because he was a traitor. He had shown us his body! So how is he here?!'_ she wondered, staring down at the unmistakable silver hair and snake like grin. She wasn't sure what to do at this point, but she knew she needed answers. But did she want Gin's side of the story, or did she want to go straight to Aizen-sama and ask him?

Gin paused outside the little shop he was making clothes for. "You go on ahead to the café, Ichigo, I'll meet ya there," he said to the orangette next to him.

Ichigo looked at him with a frown. "Are you sure? I could wait."

Gin shook his head. "Nah, I have ta talk business, it might take a few minutes, an' I know you're starvin'," he said, making a shooing motion with his hands to get the teen moving.

Ichigo sighed. "Fine. But if you're not there in 10 minutes I'm coming back for you," he warned, walking away. Gin watched him go then turned to the shop, about to go inside, when he felt a faint reiatsu push against his senses before a hand grabbed the back of his neck. Shock and panic rushed through him when he realized that A. the reiatsu was Tier Harribel's, and B. he didn't have his Zanpakuto with him.

Seconds later he was slammed into a wall in an alley not far from his little store, his head making an awful noise as it connected with the brick of the building. "Harribel… what a nice surprise," he managed to force out, even as her hand was crushing his windpipe.

"How are you still alive?" she asked, her deep voice sounding surprisingly calm, despite how much force she was using to keep him pinned to the wall.

Gin grinned at the hint of doubt in her voice, an idea popping into his head. "Why are ya so surprised, Harribel, didn't Aizen tell ya what happened?" he asked.

The blondes' eyebrows went down in what was obviously a frown. "Don't play games with me, Ichimaru. How are you still alive? Aizen-sama-"

"Showed all o' ya my body?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Harribel's eyes widened before she frowned again. "How do you know that?" she questioned, some strange emotion starting to boil in her stomach.

"All o' us make sacrifices; some o' us make more than others. Ya should know that better than everyone else," he said.

Harribel felt her confusion grow at that statement. "Don't avoid the question," she said, her voice not quite as sure as before.

"Aizen is a liar, Harribel. He don't give a damn 'bout none o' the Espada, or Tosen, or me. I know that first hand. The question is; are ya smart enough ta see through his illusions like I did? Or will ya die fer a man that won't shed a tear fer any sacrifices ya make fer him?" Harribel felt her eyes widen at the sudden emotion in the man's voice, even though his smile hadn't faded at all. "Do ya want ta hear the sacrifices I made because o' that man?"

Harribel stood very still, her eyes wide and confused. She didn't know who to believe. Without waiting for her to say anything, Gin started talking, explaining things to her. She felt bile rise in her throat as she listened to his story, horrified. Quickly following that was a flood of denial, she couldn't believe that Aizen-sama, the man that had saved her life, and the lives of Apacci, Mila Rose, and Sung-Sun, could do what Gin was claiming. Before he could finish, she dropped him, watching him crumple to the ground and cough a few times. She turned and sonidoed away, putting distance between the two, stopping only when she was nearing the outskirts of Karakura Town. After a second, she opened a Garganta and walked through it, back to Las Noches.

When she emerged, Harribel was greeted by her fraccion almost immediately, giving her very little time to think about her decision. "Harribel-sama, we didn't expect you back so soon," Mila Rose stated.

"How was that Kurosaki brat?" asked Apacci.

Harribel looked at the three women, meeting their eyes slowly before she spoke. "Ladies, I want you three to go and wait in my quarters until I come to get you. I must report to Aizen-sama." With that she turned and walked away from the entrance to her palace, heading for Aizen's throne room.

Gin stood up slowly, taking a deep breath, which only caused him to start coughing again. _'Why do people always go fer my throat… literally?'_ he wondered as he started to walk back towards the café, deciding to forget about going back to the clothing shop, instead making plans.

About a block from Ichigo's work, Ichigo himself rounded a corner and immediately rushed over to him. "Gin! Where were you?! It's been like 20 minutes!" he exclaimed, his eyes widening when he saw the red imprint of a hand on his throat, most likely starting to bruise. "What happened?"

Gin didn't respond for a long moment; he just stood there, mulling over his plan. He blinked in slight surprise when hands grabbed his upper arms firmly and looked down at Ichigo. A slow smile started to creep across his features. It continued to grow until it was a triumphant grin. "I think I know how ta defeat Aizen," he said.

* * *

AN: Yay! Epic cliffhanger ending! Oh, I'm sorry for the evilness of that. Anyways, please let me know what you think, message me, comment, whatever you want. I hope you enjoyed and I'll update soon.

And one more thing. Happy New Year everyone, have a wonderful year!


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Okay, so I know I haven't updated in a good long while, And I apologize for that. I'm posting this as a present from me to you on the account of me about to graduate in a few days! Can I hear a WOOT WOOT?!

Haha, but anyway, I haven't updated in a good long while because I was busy with homework and arguing with a certain few people. But all that is in the past. This Friday I shall walk down an isle in a dorky blue cap and gown and probably with a dorky expression on my face to match while trying to spot my family and friends and boyfriend in the crowd.

But enough of me babbling (again). This chapter has not been edited in the rush for me to put it up for you guys, and it isn't the most exciting chapter, but hey, it's still important so if you love the story you better read it. (If you only like the story you should still read it too...) And now... some secrets will be revealed... the fantastic plot that Gin has come up with... (DUNDUNDUN!)

Haha, enjoy, my lovely readers.

* * *

_Chapter 9_

_ Gin didn't respond for a long moment; he just stood there, mulling over his plan. He blinked in slight surprise when hands grabbed his upper arms firmly and looked down at Ichigo. A slow smile started to creep across his features. It continued to grow until it was a triumphant grin. "I think I know how ta defeat Aizen," he said._

Ichigo's eyes widened and for a second, all he could do was stare at Gin. "Let's get you some water and then you can tell me what your idea is," he said, taking the man's cold hand and pulling him down the street. The teen was so busy trying to figure out what had happened to Gin, so he completely missed the small form rounding the corner, running smack into the person. He blinked and looked down, surprise flashing across his face.

"Oh, Rukia, sorry, I didn't see you there," he said. Rukia blinked up at Ichigo.

"Ichigo, I haven't seen you in quite a while. Where have you-" Ichigo watched confusedly as her eyes widened to twice their normal size and she took a step back. "What the hell is he doing here Ichigo?"

The orangette looked back at Gin, understanding coming across his face. When he turned back, Renji, Orihime, Chad, and Uryu had appeared and seen the traitorous ex-captain. Rukia had already pulled out Chappy and used the gikongan to force her out of her body. Seconds later the petite girl had her sword pointed at Gin. "Ichigo, get away from him," she commanded as, behind her, Renji freed himself of his gigai and drew his sword.

Gin sighed. _'Just my luck…'_ he thought, starting to pull his hand free and step back when the grip on his hand tightened and Ichigo stepped back to stand in front of him. Gin frowned at him. "Ichigo, what are ya doin'?" he questioned.

Renji frowned. "Get out of the way and stop being an idiot!" he snapped, eyes fixed on Gin.

"Back off. He isn't going to hurt anyone," Ichigo said firmly.

"Don't be stupid! He's a traitor! He tried to kill me and hurt Byakuya-nii-sama!" Rukia said.

Orihime looked from Rukia to Gin and Ichigo uncertainly. Then she met her friend's warm brown eyes, and she saw an almost pleading look enter his eyes, asking her desperately to trust him. The girl hesitated only a moment longer before stepping forward and putting her hand on her girlfriends shoulder. "Rukia, maybe we should hear what Ichimaru-san has to say?" she asked quietly, meeting violet eyes steadily.

After a second, the black haired girl relaxed her stance slightly, "What are you doing here Gin?"

Uryu and Chad stood behind everyone uncertainly, both of them frowning deeply. _'I can't sense any reiatsu from him…'_ Uryu thought to himself, examining the silver haired man closely. _'He is in a gigai, but even then I should sense __**something**__ from him.'_

Gin sighed. "Aizen tried ta kill me. He found out somethin' he didn't like an' I escaped. Now I'm devisin' a plan ta kill him," he said, smiling that disturbing smile.

Ichigo frowned at Gin. _'It might be smart to actually look like you're being honest…'_ he thought. "Gin was trying to kill Aizen from the beginning; he was trying to find his weakness. He didn't want to hurt anyone, but he had no choice," he started.

Gin grabbed Ichigo's shoulder. "They don't need ta know the details, Ichi. They won't believe ya anyway."

Orihime stepped forward, past Rukia and looked up at Gin. "Are you going to hurt any of my friends?" she asked him.

"As long as they don't hurt me first, I won't touch 'em," he said, looking down at her. He shifted his eyes back to Renji and Rukia. "How is… how's Rangiku doin'?" he asked.

Rukia gripped her sword tighter. "That is none of your business."

Renji stepped closer to Ichigo and Gin. "We need to take him to Yamamoto Soutaicho, and let him deal with the guy," he said.

Ichigo's eyes widened and he pushed Gin back further, stepping into Renji's path. "No, you don't. And if you try, you're going to have to go through me," he threatened.

"Get out of my way Ichigo," Renji said, stepping closer again. His eyes narrowed when Ichigo stood his ground. "Move!"

"No!" Ichigo snapped, his reiatsu flaring.

Gin frowned slightly, looking around. _'With all of this reiatsu, it's going to attract hollows… maybe even draw Aizen's attention… I have to find a way to calm them down soon,'_ he thought, starting to widen his senses and see if there was a hollow nearby that might cause trouble.

"Why the hell not?!" Renji asked.

Ichigo's heart pounded in his chest, while his mind tried to come up with a good reason to give Renji, one that he would understand. And, as was typical of his brain, it had already come up with one, and before he could realize how stupid he would sound, it had bypassed the brain to mouth filter in his head. "Because I love him!"

Gin's head snapped back around, eyes widening. His heart started beating faster, and his whole expression faltered, leaving him staring like a deer caught in headlights. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to respond now, seeing as Rukia, Renji, Uryu, and Chad were all staring at Ichigo and him with a similar expression to his own. Only Orihime seemed unsurprised by the confession. She stood next to Rukia calmly, looking not nearly as dumb as she often did. Even the poor teen in front of him seemed to surprise himself.

Rukia recovered first, her expression softening somewhat. "Ichigo, I know this may be hard to accept, but Gin is a traitor, and we have to do our jobs and take him to Soutaicho," she said, almost pleadingly, willing Ichigo to understand.

Ichigo shook his head. "No. He isn't a traitor, and I can't let you take him to be executed or locked away for eternity," he responded in a calmer voice.

Renji sighed, finally managing to recover. "Rukia is right. We have to take him Ichigo. It's part of our orders."

"Would you follow orders if it was Orihime?" he asked, looking at Rukia. Then he shifted his gaze to the tattooed man. "Or Byakuya? Would you take them to be executed if you were ordered to?" The orangette felt a small spark of satisfaction when both of the Shinigami lieutenants fell silent.

Uryu pushed up his glasses and stepped forward. "Ichimaru?" he asked, pulling everyone's attention to himself. "You said that you were coming up with a plan to kill Aizen? What is it?"

Gin studied the black haired Quincy for a moment and then sighed. "I'll tell ya after I get some water," he said, starting to walk past them. He stopped when a hand grabbed his arm. He didn't turn to look at the person holding onto his arm, he didn't need to. "Abarai Fukutaicho… if ya really think I'm so untrustworthy, an' ya know what I'm capable of, then don't ya think it would be a good idea to let me go?" The grip on his arm tightened and then disappeared. Without another word, the silver haired Shinigami started walking again, turning the corner to the café, ignoring the eyes boring into his back.

Gin entered the café, ignoring the usual looks customers and workers gave him, some of them so obviously checking him out, while others seemed to trust their survival instinct and grow wary of the fox in their hen house. He sauntered over to a large booth and sat down, leaning his head back slightly. Ichigo pushed past the others and sat next to Gin instantly. Uryu sat right across from the silver haired man, Rukia and Orihime sliding into the booth next to the blue eyed Quincy. Chad sat down next to Ichigo and Renji pulled over a chair, sitting down and fixing his fiery brown eyes on the ex-captain.

"What is this plan of yours Ichimaru?" he asked.

"Water. I said after I got water, not after I sat down," Gin said, offering what would be considered his 'innocent' smile.

Renji scowled and looked like he was about to say something when a waitress walked over, effectively stopping him. "Hi Kurosaki, I thought today was your day off," she said, smiling politely at him, her light blonde, near silver, hair falling in her face.

Ichigo nodded. "It is, but my friends wanted to see where I work so I brought them for some food," he replied.

She directed her attention to the others, smiling. "Hi, I'm Aster. It's nice to meet all of you," she said. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

Gin sighed, leaning back a bit farther. "Water for me," he said, rolling his head around on his shoulders and wincing slightly.

"Oh, can I have some-" Orihime started.

"Waters for the whole table," Uryu interrupted, not wanting to hear what kind of stuff Orihime drank.

There was a long silence as Aster walked away. Orihime leaned forward slightly and said, "Ichimaru-san, what happened to your neck?"

Gin looked at her, then looked around at the few girls still staring at him. He grinned lazily, stretched back further, then leaned forward and said in a 'tragic' voice, while making sure he was loud enough for everyone to hear, "My ex-boyfriend sent someone absolutely awful after me." Then he turned to look at Ichigo, still smiling.

Ichigo closed his eyes, just knowing that now Gin was out to embarrass him, and entertain himself in the process. He hoped the man wasn't going to say anything too bad to the crowd of people now staring at what seemed like an overly dramatic, gay guy. And he could feel the mood at the table lightening somewhat, which meant Gin was making a complete fool of himself. After preparing himself mentally, he opened his eyes a crack to look at his boyfriend. His eyes widened when he saw that the man had actually slouched down then turned his eyes to look up at the orange haired teen, fluttering his lashes.

"Please don't let them beat me up again?" he asked in a pleading voice, hiding his accent, all the while keeping that insane smile on his face. "I'll do _anything_ if you protect me." There was the painfully obvious, suggestive tone in his voice as he spoke. Ichigo could feel his face light up crimson, and he scowled at Gin. After debating the best way to make Gin stop, the teen jabbed the fox faced man in the side. The silver haired man straightened instantly, trying to stop the laughter bubbling up in his chest.

Aster returned with the drinks and placed them all on the table, pausing by Renji's chair. "Are you using this, Kurosaki?" she asked.

Ichigo nodded. "Yea, two more of my friends will be here soon."

Both Rukia and Renji left immediately, in search of their gigai, and the young Visored sighed, rubbing his temple slowly. "Gin, who did that?" he asked.

Gin paused in the middle of drinking his water, setting the glass back down gently. "Tier Harribel," he said simply.

Ichigo's frown deepened. "Who?"

Gin looked around at everyone sitting at the table, realizing that none of them had ever heard of her before. "She's the third Espada."

After that everyone fell silent, waiting for Renji and Rukia to return. When the door chimed cheerily, announcing someone's arrival, Gin directed his gaze to the entrance, eyes widening when he saw a mess of snowy white hair, making its way towards their booth. _'Dammit! Why is HE here?!'_ he wondered desperately, his expression melting away into a look of guilt before he could stop it. No one else seemed to notice the change in the silver haired man, or the pale teen approaching them.

Renji made it back to the table first, and he stood next to his chair, once again in his gigai. Rukia stepped up beside him, also in her gigai, and stood still, looking somewhat nervous. Seconds later Hitsugaya Toshiro was standing next to Rukia, looking at the ex-captain with an unreadable expression. The prodigy had grown since Gin had last seen him. He was taller than the black haired Shinigami next to him, and only about a head shorter than Renji. His disheveled hair was longer now, and yet still somehow managed to defy the earth's gravity. He was still very slim, and still very pale, making him look even more like Ukitake Jushiro. He was wearing grey skinny jeans, and a simple black shirt, with the collar turned up. A turquoise scarf, matching his eyes perfectly, hung loosely around his slender neck.

Toshiro shifted his eyes from Gin to Uryu. "Ishida, will you move so I can sit there?" he asked, although it sounded more like a command than anything. His voice rang with confidence and authority, even more so than before. Orihime instantly slid out of her seat, smiling kindly.

"Hello Hitsugaya-kun," she said, bowing slightly to him. Uryu was a little slower to respond, obviously not liking the tone the teen had used when addressing him, and probably disliking being ordered around by a Shinigami. But he stood none the less, giving the 10th Company Taicho his seat across from Gin.

"Toshiro! What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked, either not noticing the tension between the two pale men, or ignoring it in hopes that it would fade. Gin figured it was the latter of the two.

"It's Hitsugaya Taicho to you Kurosaki," Toshiro stated coldly, sliding into the booth and meeting Gin's eyes. "Ichimaru…"

Gin slid his mask back on when the teen addressed him, grinning nonchalantly. "10th Company Taicho! It seems all those afternoon naps finally paid off and gave ya that growth spurt ya've been wantin' so bad," he said smoothly.

The white haired captains' eyes narrowed. "I'm not here to play games with you Ichimaru. What in the world could have made you stupid enough to show your face in Karakura town? Especially after everything you've done?" he asked. Toshiro didn't mention Momo. He didn't need to; his tone of voice and expression said it all.

Gin's expression didn't falter. "Scary as always, Hitsugaya Taicho. I thought maybe ya'd be more personable after ya grew up some. Guess I was wrong," he said with a shrug and a sigh. "Too bad. If ya could lose the attitude then maybe ya would be more attractive to the opposite sex."

Toshiro ground his teeth together, already losing his patience with the traitor. "Tell me what the hell you're doing here _Gin_," he demanded, practically spitting out his name.

A small frown crossed the silver haired man's face. "Are ya really ready ta know all that Toshiro?" he asked, dropping the honorifics.

"Tell me, now. Give me a good reason to not kill you myself," the boy hissed.

"Fine." Gin leaned forward so that he was closer to the captain. "Aizen tried ta kill me. Because I was gonna kill him, an' try ta get back somethin' he stole from Rangiku when we were kids," he whispered. Then he sat back, meeting those cold eyes unflinchingly. "That enough o' a reason fer ya?"

Toshiro glared at the man, trying to keep his reiatsu in check. He knew losing it in a place like this would be bad, but Ichimaru always managed to push him right to the edge, just by being near the teen. "I want the whole story, Ichimaru. Not the version you told the others."

Gin opened his eyes slowly, looking at Toshiro. His eyes flashed with pain for a second and he sighed. "What do ya wanna know? The body count? The people I've hurt? How sorry I am? How much I know that doesn't make a goddamn difference? Sorry kid, but I don't think you're ready ta hear everythin' I have ta say to you." The man didn't wait for a reply. He let his eyes slide shut again, stood, stepped over to the empty booth behind him and walked out of the café. He stopped when he reached the alleyway next to the place, leaning against the wall and taking a deep breath. _'Well, that was stupid,'_ he decided, shaking his head.

Ichigo blinked a few times, trying to catch up to what had happened. He looked over at Toshiro, and saw him sitting very stiff. He looked like a block of ice for a minute. But that shattered when he rose to his feet to follow Gin. Ichigo reached across the table and grabbed the slender arm in a vice grip. "Toshiro, wait a second. Gin isn't the bad guy. He said he has a plan, to kill Aizen. We should at least hear him out," he said, meeting the icy gaze with his warm brown eyes, hopping that Toshiro would be more rational about this.

Toshiro's eyes narrowed and he felt anger bubble in his chest, trying to rise to the surface. "Kurosaki…" he said slowly, staring the teen straight in the face. "What the hell did that… man do to you to make you this stupid?" he asked, pulling his arm from the others grasp.

"He didn't do anything to me Toshiro! Just hear him out, please. I know that I'm right about this. He isn't here to hurt anyone," he said, nearly pleading, a rare thing for the eldest child of Kurosaki Isshin.

Toshiro looked down at the teen with the flame colored hair and dark eyes. He didn't move for a second, just stood still, debating if Ichigo was right, and they could trust Gin. _'Even if he is right, that bastard tried to kill Hinamori, and myself. And he… let Aizen do all those atrocious things. He deserves the death sentence for his crimes. But… if he really does have a plan to kill Aizen… then he could be a valuable ally for the time being…'_ he thought to himself. He crossed his arms and looked over at Rukia. "Kuchiki, go get Ichimaru," he ordered.

The raven haired girl nodded and turned quickly, not wanting the captain to get mad at her for one reason or another. When she emerged out onto the sidewalk, she looked around until her eyes fell of the figure encompassed in shadow a few feet from the entrance. Rukia cautiously approached the man, still so very frightened of him. "Ichimaru," she said, focusing on keeping her voice steady. Her whole body stiffened when the man turned his head to look at her. "Hitsugaya Taicho wants to speak with you."

Rukia watched Gin sigh and turn back away from her. "O' course he does. I dun think I'm in the mood ta speak with him. Tell him I'm not home," he said.

Rukia frowned. "Ichimaru, he wants you back in there _now_," she said with as much authority as she could muster.

Gin turned back to her with that unnerving smile on his face. "Oh, so commanding. Very well, Kuchiki Fukutaicho," he said, walking past her and back into the café. Rukia held her breath until he was past her, letting it out in a sigh. She turned back and followed after him.

Gin returned to the booth with that smile on his face. "You requested my presence, Hitsugaya Taicho?" he asked, raising a brow.

Toshiro looked up at the man with a scowl. "Sit down Ichimaru," he ordered. He felt a small spark of surprise when the man obeyed him, sliding into the booth next to Ichigo. "Kurosaki said you have a plan to kill Aizen?" he asked.

Gin nodded. "I do believe I did say that at some point today…" he said, tilting his head down slightly, then to the side. "Why do ya ask?"

"Tell me what it is."

"I don know... Hitsugaya Taicho… can I trust ya not ta tell anyone else from the Soul Society?" he asked.

Toshiro's eyes narrowed. "You'll have to find out. Right now this plan of yours is the only thing keeping me from turning you in now," he said.

Gin met his gaze unflinchingly, before sighing and shaking his head. "Ya really haven't changed…" He leaned forward suddenly and said in a very quiet tone, "The Espada."

Toshiro's expression grew confused. "What about them?" he asked.

"Many of them have a strained relationship with Aizen, such as Baraggan Louisenbairn, Tier Harribel, Coyote Starrk, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, an' Szayel Aparro Granz. If I play my cards right I can get them ta rebel against Aizen, an' distract the remaining Espada while I finish Aizen off," he said.

"Wait, how do we know you'll actually finish Aizen off? Why not let someone else do it?"

"Does anyone else in the Soul Society know how ta escape Kyoka Suigetsu's Kanzen Saimin?" Gin retorted.

"Are you saying that you know how to?" Toshiro asked, leaning forward a little.

Ichigo felt hope rise in his chest. Maybe Gin would be okay after all, with Toshiro here…

Gin nodded. "O' course I know how ta escape it. But I can't tell just anybody how ta do it. Cuz I find when someone learns another's weakness, it makes 'em reckless an' cocky."

Toshiro scowled and sighed, knowing that Gin wouldn't tell him what the trick was, with or without force. "What about the Espada? What can you tell us about the Espada?"

"Espada's one through 10 are numbered based on their fightin' abilities, an' reiatsu level. Fer example, when he releases his sword, Coyote Starrk is the strongest, therefore has the number one, an' he's called the primera. Baraggan is number two, Harribel is number three, Grimmjow, who I'm sure ya all know…" he said, glancing at Ichigo who grimaced at the name. "Is number six. Szayel Aparro is the 8th Espada. Anyone else would be a waste of my time, tryin' ta get them ta help me out."

"But… didn't you say that Harribel attacked you today?" Ichigo asked.

Gin nodded and shrugged. "I took the opportunity ta put my plan inta action," he said.

Toshiro frowned. "And if she just tells Aizen that you're alive?"

Gin sighed, leaning back. "Ya are so negative Shiro-chan! But… I'm fairly certain that she wont tell Aizen before checkin' out my story herself. An' if she finds it's true, an' realizes how much danger her an' her fraccion are in, then she'll come ta me," he said with complete confidence. He raised his hand and waved a waitress over. "Can we get some pancakes fer everyone at the table?"

"Sure! What kind of syrup?" the woman asked.

"Maple syrup, and refill on my water," he said, waving the empty glass around.

"Alright. I'll be back soon," she said walking away.

"Ichimaru, I don't want food!" Toshiro snapped.

"Aw, but ya don wanna waste some delicious pancakes do ya?" Gin questioned innocently.

Ichigo smiled. "Come on Toshiro. Stay a while."

"I… I'm supposed to meet someone…" the white haired captain said, looking away as a blush rose to his cheeks.

Ichigo leaned forward with a goofy grin on his face. "Aw, do you have a girlfriend Toshiro?"

"Shut up Kurosaki. I'll stay. I just need to make a call," the teen snapped, standing up and walking outside while digging a phone out of his pants pocket.

Gin laughed. "Good job Ichigo. We have more company now," he said.

* * *

AN: Alright, so here it was. The plot fully revealed, and with Ichigo's neet little secret in the form of Gin revealed to his friends. I hope I did a good job. Please comment and rate and tell me what you thought of it. :)


End file.
